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DAY'S      LIBRARY,      Ltd., 

(THE    BRITISH    LIBRARY,   1 740) 

96    Mount    Street,    London,   w.  i. 


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;.0MUON,  EDWAKD  ARNOLD . 


THE  ADVENTURES   OF 

DUNSTEEFOECE 


BY 

MAJOE-GENEEAL  L.  C.  DUNSTEEVILLE 

C.B.,  C.S.I. 


ILLUSTRATED 


LONDON 
EDWAED    AENOLD 

1920 

lAll  Bights  Beserved} 


H 


•i  *.: • 


•   »   •• 


'•  •     •  • , 


PEEFACE 

THIS  book  is  not  intended  to  form  a  precise  record 
of  military  operations  and  will  be  of  small  value  to 
the  student  of  strategy  and  tactics  ;  it  is  written  solely 
with  the  design  of  interesting  the  general  reader.  Stories 
of  the  Hush-Hush  Army,  which  bear  no  relation  to  facts, 
have  been  for  a  long  time  current,  and  it  may  be  as  well, 
therefore,  to  give  an  account  of  the  actual  occurrences. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  any  one  member  of  my  force 
to  give  a  truthful  account  of  anything  but  the  actual 
operations  in  which  he  was  personally  engaged,  and  this 
would  give  no  idea  at  all  of  the  undertakings  and  achieve- 
ments of  the  mission  as  a  whole ;  the  task,  therefore, 
devolves  on  myself.  This  account  is  written  from  memory 
with  only  the  assistance  of  a  rough  private  diary.  I 
can,  therefore,  only  guarantee  the  facts  while  leaving 
numbers  "  round  "  and  figures  **  approximate." 

To  attempt  a  detailed  account  of  the  various  operations 
undertaken  by  detachments  of  the  Force  would  be  quite 
beyond  the  scope  of  the  present  volume,  and  such  accounts 
to  be  of  real  value  should  be  written  by  those  who  led 
the  several  expeditions.  Thus  Major  Wagstaff  would  tell 
of  the  Zinjan-Mianeh  venture  among  the  Shah-Savans, 
Major  Starnes  of  the  dealings  round  Bijar  with  the  Kurdish 
tribes.  Major  Macarthy  of    the    Persian  levies,   Colonel 


439840 


vi  PREFACE 

Matthews  of  the  fighting  round  Resht,  Colonel  Keyworth 
of  the  Baku  fighting,  and  Colonel  Stokes  of  Staff  work 
in  a  revolutionary  army. 

In  recounting  the  various  episodes,  it  is  not  possible 
always  to  give  full  recognition  to  those  officers  who 
contributed  on  each  occasion  to  the  success  of  certain 
enterprises  or  to  whose  ingenuity  and  suggestions  certain 
plans  were  due.  Such  recognition  is  found  in  the  official 
records,  and  the  reader  will  understand  that  when  a 
General  is  writing  an  account  of  the  achievements  of 
a  force  under  his  command,  it  is  not  possible  for  him 
entirely  to  eliminate  the  first  person  and  say  "  I  and 
my  Staff,"  or  to  add  in  each  case  the  name  of  any 
officer  who  may  have  furnished  the  brilliant  idea. 

I  was  particularly  well  served  not  only  by  my  Staff, 

but  by  all  the  officers    to    whom    various    tasks    were 

entrusted,  and    to    whom  I   desire   to  record   my   deep 

sense  of  gratitude. 

L.  C.  DUNSTERVILLE. 
Agra. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTBB 

I.  THE  GATES  AJAR  . 

II.  A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE 

III.  "the  SEA  !  THE  sea!". 

IV.  WE  FALL   BACK  TO   HAMADAN 
V.  AN   ALLIANCE   OF   PHANTOMS 

VI.  WE   GET   TO   KNOW   OUR   HOSTS 

VII.  FAMINE  .... 

VIII.  A  PAUSE   AT  HAMADAN       . 

IX.  A  STEP   IN  ADVANCE 

X.  THE  LAST   STAGE  TO  THE  8BA       . 

XI.  TURKS,    INFIDELS   AND   HERETICS 

Xn.  IN  TOUCH   WITH   BAKU 

XIII.  WE   MAN   THE   BAKU   LINE 

XIV.  SHORT   OF   EVERYTHING     . 

XV.  THE   ENEMY   WITHIN  THE  GATES 

XVI.  THE   SHADOW  OF   COMING   EVENTS 

XVII.  THE   WITHDRAWAL 

INDEX     .... 
vii 


P4aa 
1 

.  11 

.  31 

.  50 

.  68 

.  85 

.  102 

,  118 

.  13J> 

.  155 

.  175 

.  195 

.  218 

.  239 

.  263 

.  279 

.  297 

.  319 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTEATIONS 


PORTRAIT  OF  THE  AUTHOR  .  .  .  Frontispiece 

TO  FACE  PAQH 
"colonel    DUNCAN    AND     MYSELF    SET    OFF     IN     THE     EARLY 
MORNING  "         . 


THE  KA8VIN-RESHT    ROAD 

LIEUTENANT   SINGER  IN  THE   ARMOURED   CAR 

"a   MOUNTAIN   STREAM   PROVIDES    WATER     AND    A    DRAINAGE 
CHANNEL "         . 


24 
82 
36 


.     58 

GENERAL  BARATOV  .  ,  .  .  .  .70 

COSSACKS   HOMEWARD   BOUND         .  .  .  .  .86 

A   COURTYARD     IN  THE  BAZAAR,    HAMADAN  .  .  .112 

RESHT,    CLOSE   TO   THE   CONSULATE  ....    164 

A  BRANCH   OF  THE   SEFID-RUD   AT   RESHT  .  .  .172 

MIRZA  KUCHIK  KHAN  :   RETURNED  TO   CIVIL  LIFE  .  .    190 

"a  MAZE   OF  NARROW  AND   TORTUOUS   STREETS"  .  .    202 

OIL   WELLS   AT   BIBI-EIBAT  .....    226 

"the  quays   in  the   NEIGHBOURHOOD   OF  OUR  WHARF  ''  .    232 

MAJOR-GENERAL   DUNSTERVILLE   AND   COLONEL  ARATUNOV  .    256 

"refugees   ESCAPING  PROM  THE   WRATH  TO   COME"    .  .    260 

AFTER  THE  EVACUATION.       THE    39tH   INFANTRY  BRIGADE    AT 

ENZELI  .......    314 


1 


f 


t 


LIST   OF   MAPS 

GENERAL      OUTLINE      MAP      OF      MESOPOTAMIA,     PERSIA     AND 

TRANSCAUCASIA  .  .  .  Instde  front  cover 

THE  ENVIRONS  OP  BAKU  ....     Facing  page  220 

THE  BAKU  PENINSULA        .  .  .  .  ,  At  end 


THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 


CHAPTER    I 
THE   GATES  AJAR 

THE  history  of  these  adventures,  which  cover  the 
whole  stretch  of  country  lying  between  Baghdad 
i»nd  Baku,  deals  with  a  problem  which  by  a  curious  coin- 
ddence  abounds  in  unavoidable  alliterations,  the  letter 

standing  for  Berlin,  Batoum,  Baku,  Bokhara  and 
[Baghdad,  and  if  one  wanted  to  run  the  alliteration  to 
death,  one  might  add  Byzantium  for  Constantinople. 
Thus  the  object  of  the  mission  with  which  I  was  ordered 
to  proceed  to  the  Caucasus  at  the  end  of  1917,  as  well 
as  the  enemy  plans  that  led  to  the  dispatch  of  the  mission, 
can  best  be  set  forth  briefly  under  this  letter  of  the 
alphabet. 

One  of  the  big  items  in  the  deep-laid  pre-war  schemes 
of  Germany  for  world-domination  was  the  absorption 
of  Asia  Minor  and  the  penetration  into  further  Asia  by 
means  of  the  Berlin-Baghdad  railway.  When  Baghdad 
was  taken  by  the  British  in  March  1917,  and  the  prospect 
of  its  recapture  by  the  Turks  appeared  very  remote, 
the  scheme  for  German  penetration  into  Asia  had  to  be 
shifted  further  north  and  took  the  obvious  line  Bbrlin- 
Baku-Bokhara. 

In  this  latter  scheme  it  was  evident  that  the  Southern 
Caucasus,  Baku  and  the  Caspian  Sea  would  play  a  large 

2  1 


2       TfE  tlDVJENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

part ;  and  the  object  of  my  mission  was  to  prevent 
German  and  Turkish  penetration  in  this  area. 

Fate  ordained  that,  just  at  the  time  that  the  British 
thwarted  the  more  southern  German  scheme  by  the 
capture  of  Baghdad,  the  Russian  breakdown  opened 
the  northern  route  to  the  unopposed  enterprise  of  the 
Germans.  Until  the  summer  of  1917  the  Russian  troops 
held  firm,  though  it  was  obvious  that  the  process  of  dis- 
integration could  not  long  be  delayed.  Their  line  extended 
from  South  Russia,  through  the  Caucasus,  across  the 
Caspian,  through  North- West  Persia  until  its  left  joined 
up  with  the  British  right  on  the  frontier  of  Persia  and 
Mesopotamia,  east  of  Baghdad.  By  the  autumn  of  1917 
this  line  was  melting  away,  troops  deserted  en  masse 
and  the  entire  army  announced  its  intention  of  with- 
drawing from  the  struggle  and  proceeding  home. 

Thus  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Erzerum  the  Turkish 
Army,  acting  unconsciously  as  the  Advanced  Guard  of 
German  aims,  found  nothing  between  it  and  the  long- 
coveted  possession  of  the  Southern  Caucasus,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  Armenian  troops,  disorganized,  without 
cohesion  and  equally  impregnated  with  the  spirit  of  the 
revolution.  But,  as  the  line  of  the  Turkish  advance  lay 
through  their  homes,  they  were  compelled  to  offer  resist- 
ance. Tiflis,  the  capital  of  the  Southern  Caucasus,  was 
likely  to  fall  without  serious  resistance  into  the  hands  of 
the  enemy,  and  the  capture  of  this  town  would  give  the 
Turko-German  armies  control  of  the  railway  line  between 
Batoum  on  the  Black  Sea  and  Baku  on  the  Caspian,  the 
enormously  valuable  oilfields  of  Baku,  the  indispensable 
minerals  of  the  Caucasus  Mountains,  and  the  vast  supplies 
of  grain  and  cotton  from  the  shores  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 

The  scene  of  conflict  being  too  far  removed  from  any 
of  the  main  areas  of  the  war — Baghdad  to  Baku  is  800 
miles — it  was  quite  impossible  to  send  sufl&cient  troops 
to  meet  the  situation. 


J 


THE   GATES  AJAR  8 

The  only  possible  plan,  and  it  was  a  very  sound  one, 
was  to  send  a  British  mission  to  Tiflis.  This  mission, 
on  reaching  its  destination,  would  set  to  work  to  re- 
organize the  broken  units  of  Russian,  Georgian  and 
Armenian  soldiery,  and  restore  the  battle-line  against 
the  Turkish  invasion.  The  prospects  were  considerable, 
and  success  would  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  numbers 
employed  or  the  cost  involved.  It  was  attractive  and 
practical. 

The  honour  of  command  fell  to  my  lot,  and  I  set  forth 
from  Baghdad  with  the  leading  party  in  January  1918. 

Let  me  state  at  the  outset  that  it  entirely  failed  to 
achieve  its  original  object,  and  never  even  reached  Tiflis  ! 
But  the  story  I  propose  to  tell  is  of  its  endeavours  to 
reach  that  spot,  of  the  other  tasks  that  fell  incidentally 
to  its  lot,  and  of  its  minor  achievements,  which  I  am 
convinced  were  of  great  value  to  the  Allied  cause. 

It  will  be  left  to  the  reader  to  deduce  from  the  general 
narrative  the  value  of  these  achievements,  but  I  may 
draw  attention  to  the  one  immediately  following  the 
abandonment  of  the  Tiflis  scheme,  to  wit,  that  by  a  kind 
of  moral  camouflage,  the  original  first  party  of  twelve 
officers  and  forty-one  men  filled  the  gap  left  in  North 
Persia  by  the  evacuating  Russians  on  300  miles  of 
road,  and  entirely  checked  all  enemy  enterprise  on  this 
line,  though  hampered  by  the  threatening  hostility  of 
the  neutral  Persians. 

Before  beginning  the  narrative  of  the  adventures  of 
the  mission,  it  may  be  interesting  to  survey  very  briefly 
the  Tiflis  scheme. 

From  the  enemy's  point  of  view,  the  Turk  would 
undoubtedly  be  actuated  by  an  intense  desire  to  gain 
possession  of  valuable  territory  in  the  only  theatre  of  war 
where  victories  fell  like  ripe  plums  into  his  lap,  he  could 
indulge  his  long-standing  hatred  of  the  Armenian  to  its 
fullest  extent,  and  the  individual  soldier  would  be  tempted 


4       THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

by  the  rich  loot  which  the  larger  cities  would  afford.  But 
on  the  other  hand  the  Turkish  Army  as  a  whole  was  no 
longer  the  well-organized  machine  of  1916.  The  troops 
were  tired,  and  their  leaders  were  no  longer  inspired  by 
the  certainty  of  ultimate  victory,  but  rather  were  de- 
pressed by  the  extreme  probability  of  the  contrary  result. 
Against  such  an  army  it  should  be  easy  to  reorganize  the 
large  numbers  of  Georgian  and  Armenian  troops,  whose 
fighting  spirit  would  be  multiplied  a  hundredfold  by  their 
determination  to  keep  the  hated  invader  out  of  their 
homes. 

This  last  proposition  seems  so  obvious  that  it  might 
well  be  taken  as  a  foregone  conclusion.  Unfortunately 
the  event  proved  the  exact  reverse  !  The  revolution  had 
so  taken  the  heart  out  of  the  men,  that  this  primitive 
spirit  of  the  defence  of  hearth  and  home,  one  of  the 
strongest  instincts  the  human  being  possesses,  was 
entirely  absent  in  the  case  of  the  South  Caucasians. 

'  The  only  possible  line  of  success  for  the  mission  would 
have  been  to  have  worked  on  this  feeling  of  patriotism 
and  love  of  home.  It  may  seem  incredible,  but  it  is 
certain  that  such  a  feeling  did  not  exist,  and  plans  based 
upon  it  would  have  been  foredoomed  to  failure  ;  but  to 
make  the  assertion  is  surely  not  to  be  laid  to  the  blame 
of  those  who  counted  on  the  existence  of  such  a  feeling. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  Tifiis,  long  before 
the  war,  had  what  the  Russians  call  a  German  "  orien- 
tation." 

In  their  deep  preparation  for  this  great  war  the 
German  left  no  stone  unturned,  and  the  Caucasus,  north 
and  south,  had  been  thoroughly  exploited  by  them  in 
view  of  possible  eventualities. 

The  inhabitants  of  Tifiis  read  their  Reuters  and  com- 
pared them  with  the  glorious  revelations  of  the  German 
wireless  :  Obviously  Germany  was  going  to  win  the  war. 
'*  Therefore  why  should  we  have  the  British  here  to  prolong 


THE  GATES   AJAR  5 

matters  ?  Let  the  Turks  take  the  country  :  we  look  to 
a  victorious  and  magnanimous  Germany  to  protect  us 
from  Turkish  excesses  and  to  turn  them  out  again  when 
the  war  is  over.  The  Turkish  invasion  is  only  a  temporary 
inconvenience  from  which  the  Germans  will  later  relieve 
us."  Such  was  undoubtedly  the  Tiflis  train  of  thought, 
especially  among  the  Georgian  population.  At  the  back 
of  the  Armenian  mind  always  lay  the  terror  of  impending 
massacre. 

This  lack  of  national  spirit  is  an  example  of  the  terrible 
uncertainty  with  which  those  are  confronted  who  are 
called  on  to  deal  with  military  problems.  The  one  factor 
that  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  certain  turns  out  exactly 
contrary.  When  this  story  reaches  the  final  stage  of 
the  defence  of  Baku  against  the  Turks,  it  will  be  seen  that 
in  the  eleventh  hour,  with  their  beloved  city,  their  private 
wealth,  their  wives  and  children,  in  hourly  danger  of 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  firmly  believing 
in  the  certainty  of  a  general  massacre — even  at  such  a 
moment  as  this,  the  spirit  on  which  a  successful  defence 
could  alone  be  based  was  never  evoked.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  this  lack  of  heart  must  be  attributed  to  the 
revolution.  All  the  factors  that  go  to  make  up  what 
we  call  "  bravery  "  are  shivered  to  pieces  in  a  revolution, 
and  their  place  is  taken  by  a  dull  apathy  that  meets  all 
situations  with  the  hopeless  query,  "  What  is  the  use  of 
anything  ?  " 

So  much  for  the  South  Caucasus.     Now  as  to  Persia. 

Although  Persia  was  declared  neutral,  her  territory 
had  been  used  from  the  commencement  of  the  war,  both 
by  the  Russians  and  the  Turks,  who  fought  each  other 
up  and  down  the  road  from  Kasvin  to  Kermanshah,  until 
our  capture  of  Baghdad  left  the  Russians  in  undisputed 
possession.  In  1917,  therefore,  the  Russians  were  holding 
the  road  running  north-east  from  the  Perso-Mesopotamian 
frontier    to    the    Caspian    Sea.     The    Turks,  though    not 


6       THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

showing  any  intention  of  attacking  on  that  line,  still 
kept  a  sufficient  number  of  troops  on  a  line  parallel  to 
and  north-west  of  the  Russian  line  to  necessitate  a 
constant  look-out  in  that  direction. 

When,  with  the  advent  of  the  Bolsheviks  to  power  in 
November  1917,  the  Russian  troops  in  North  Persia 
began  to  break  away,  it  became  obvious  that  a  gap  of 
some  450  miles  would  be  left  open  on  the  right  flank  of 
the  British  Mesopotamian  army,  through  which  Turkish 
and  German  agents  and  troops  could  flood  Central  Asia 
unopposed. 

It  was  hoped  to  stop  this  gap  by  re-enlisting,  under 
the  British  flag,  a  sufficient  number  of  well-paid  volunteers 
from  the  ranks  of  the  retreating  Russians. 

The  efforts  made  in  this  direction  were  a  complete 
failure. 

The  reasons  for  the  failure  were  mainly  those  narrated 
above — revolutionaries  will  kill,  but  they  won't  fight.  The 
few  men  enlisted  were  quite  worthless,  and  the  revolu- 
tionary Committees  proclaimed  sentence  of  death  on 
any  one  supporting  the  movement ;  so  it  had  to  be 
abandoned.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  gap  created  in  this 
portion  of  the  line  was  actually  filled  by  the  officers  and 
N.C.O.'s  of  the  mission,  under  circumstances  which  will 
be  narrated  farther  on. 

It  only  remains  now  to  give  a  very  short  description 
of  the  geography  of  the  terrain. 

Leaving  Baghdad  in  an  easterly  direction,  the  monoto- 
nous flat  country  of  Mesopotamia  continues  for  about 
80  miles  as  the  crow  flies,  until  the  Persian  frontier,  which 
practically  coincides  with  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  is 
reached.  The  approach  to  the  hills  is  gradual,  commencing 
with  the  usual  Jebels,  or  foothills,  which  begin  to  break 
the  level  of  the  dead  flat  ground  at  about  20  miles  before 
we  come  to  the  actual  frontier. 

From  this  point  on  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  400  miles  in 


THE  GATES  AJAR  7 

a  straight  line,  the  country  consists  of  a  succession  of 
barren  hills  and  fertile  valleys,  the  line  of  the  parallel 
ranges  running  N.W.  to  S.E.,  while  the  road  runs  N.E., 
thus  taking  each  range  at  right  angles.  The  passes  run 
to  between  5,000  and  8,000  feet  above  sea-level,  and  the 
general  level  of  the  country  lies  between  3,000  and  7,000 
feet. 

On  the  Taq-i-Giri  Pass,  by  which  travellers  from 
Mesopotamia  enter  the  Persian  uplands,  there  are  a  few 
stunted  oaks  on  the  hillsides ;  these  are  practically 
the  only  wild  trees  seen  until  we  come  to  the  Elburz 
mountains,  which  skirt  the  southern  shores  of  the  Caspian 
Sea.  Passing  through  this  mountain  range  at  Menjil, 
the  last  70  miles  down  to  the  sea  display  an  example  of 
the  vivid  contrasts  that  only  Asia  affords.  After  more 
than  300  miles  of  hills  as  barren  as  the  rocks  of  Aden,  a 
country  is  suddenly  entered  which  is  clothed  in  the  very 
thickest  of  forest,  producing  an  effect  as  striking  as  a 
sudden  transition  from  one  planet  to  another.  The  last 
20  miles  of  this  road  down  to  the  Russian  Concession 
Port  of  Kazian  (or  Enzeli)  lies  on  the  flat  among  low 
dunes,  and  represents  the  portion  of  the  sea  that  has 
gradually  been  silted  up  in  the  course  of  centuries  by 
the  mud  brought  down  from  the  Elburz  range  and  the 
sand  blown  in  from  the  sea  by  the  northerly  gales. 

The  Caspian  basin  encloses  every  sort  of  climate  and 
temperature,  the  shores  display  every  variety  of  country, 
inhabited  by  numberless  races,  the  fragments  of  submerged 
great  races  of  the  past.  As  regards  climate,  the  port 
of  Astrakhan  at  the  mouth  of  the  Volga  in  the  extreme 
North  is  icebound  in  winter,  while  the  country  round 
Enzeli  is  rice-growing  ;  plantains  and  palms  flourish  in 
the  open,  and  the  winter  is  chiefly  characterized  by  warm 
drizzling  rain. 

The  country  on  the  north-west,  north  and  most  of 
the  eastern  shores  is  flat,  either  grass-growing  steppe  or 


8       THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

sandy  desert ;  on  the  west  and  south  tower  the  offshoots 
of  the  Caucasus  range  and  the  magnificent  range  of  the 
Elburz  Mountains. 

The  principal  races  inhabiting  the  shores  are  Russians 
and  Cossacks  in  the  northern  area,  Turcomans  to  the 
east,  Persians  and  Gilanis  to  the  south,  Tartars,  Georgians, 
Armenians  and  Daghestanis  on  the  west. 

With  the  exception  of  the  southern  shore,  which  is 
Persian  territory,  the  entire  sea  lies  within  the  Russian 
zone,  and  on  this  southern  shore,  a  veritable  Naboth's 
vineyard,  the  chief  port  and  the  fisheries  form  a  Russian 
concession — and  a  very  valuable  concession  it  is.  The 
road  from  the  port  to  Teheran  and  to  Hamadan  is  equally 
a  Russian  property. 

The  traffic  on  the  sea  is  very  considerable,  as  it  forms 
a  sort  of  exchange  market  for  the  caviare  and  frozen  fish 
of  the  Russian  fisheries,  the  rice  of  Gilan  and  the  wheat 
and  cotton  of  Turkestan,  against  the  oil  of  Baku  and  the 
cotton  fabrics  and  other  European  commodities  that  are 
brought  down  the  Volga  to  Astrakhan.  Where  oil  fuel 
is  so  cheap,  and  fierce  storms  so  frequent,  there  is  not 
much  scope  for  sailing  ships,  and  the  fleet  of  steamships 
is  large  for  so  small  an  area.  Without  having  access  to 
official  figures  we  calculated  on  a  mercantile  fleet  on  the 
Caspian  of  something  like  250  ships,  running  from  200  tons 
to  over  1,000,  some,  built  in  England,  having  reached  the 
Caspian  via  the  Volga  on  their  own  bottoms. 

A  small  fleet  of  three  very  diminutive  gunboats,  the 
KarSy  the  Ardaghmi  and  the  Geoh  Tepe,  rules  the  waves 
in  this  inland  sea,  and  are  sufficient  to  keep  order  where 
there  can  be  no  opposition.  This  fleet  has  naturally  had 
a  good  deal  to  say  in  politics  since  the  revolution  started, 
mainly  with  a  view  to  the  financial  advantage  of  the 
sailors.  It  is  remarkable  how  willingly  a  revolutionary 
government  listens  to  the  demands  of  the  fleet  when  the 
seat  of  government  is  on  the  seashore  and  the  guns  of 
the  ships  are  trained  on  vital  spots. 


I 


THE  GATES  AJAR  9 

The  foregoing  very  rough  outline  of  the  political  events 
leading  up  to  the  determination  to  dispatch  the  mission 
to  Tiflis,  and  of  the  general  nature  of  the  country  traversed 
in  the  course  of  operations,  will  suffice,  I  hope,  to  give 
the  reader  a  sufficient  notion  of  the  setting  of  the  scene. 

One  other  point  requires  to  be  dealt  with — the  com- 
position of  the  mission. 

In  view  of  the  special  nature  of  the  task  with  which 
it  was  to  deal,  actual  troops  would  not  be  required.  A 
nucleus  of  some  200  officers,  and  a  similar  number  of 
N.C.O.'s,  would  take  the  place  of  leaders  and  instructors 
in  the  reorganized  units. 

These  officers  and  N.C.O.'s  were  chosen  from  all  the 
units  in  the  various  theatres  of  the  war,  from  France, 
Salonika,  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia.  They  were  chiefly 
from  the  Canadian,  Australian,  New  Zealand  and  South 
African  contingents.  All  were  chosen  for  special  ability, 
and  all  were  men  who  had  already  distinguished  themselves 
in  the  field.  It  is  certain  that  a  finer  body  of  men  have 
never  been  brought  together,  and  the  command  was  one 
of  which  any  man  might  well  be  proud. 

But  the  assembling  of  the  force  was  a  difficult  task. 
If  time  had  not  been  an  important  factor,  it  would  have 
been  a  great  advantage  to  have  first  assembled  it  at  some 
point,  and  then  set  forth  on  our  quest.  This,  however, 
was  quite  impossible.  Time  was  the  chief  factor  in  the 
problem,  and  I  had  to  push  off  personally  as  soon  as  I 
could  get  together  an  advance  party  of  a  few  officers. 

The  remainder  of  the  force  arrived  in  batches  during 
the  next  two  months.  In  its  entirety  it  was  never  collected 
in  one  place,  owing  to  the  varying  nature  of  the  duties 
and  the  huge  area  in  which  it  was  operating.  This,  in 
itself,  was  a  great  handicap,  but  quite  unavoidable. 

My  own  knowledge  of  the  Russian  language  and  known 
sympathy  with  Russia  had  probably  a  good  deal  to  do 
with  my  selection  for  the  task,  but  it  was  not  to  be  expected 


10     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

that  the  officers  of  my  force  would,  as  a  general  rule,  be 
linguists  :    and  they  were  not. 

There  were,  however,  a  few  who  could  manage  a  little 
Russian  as  a  result  of  lessons  taken  on  board  ship  on  the 
way  out,  and  here  and  there  one  or  two  who  could  manage 
intelligible  French.  The  officers  originally  selected  for 
Staff  work  were  admirably  chosen  and  included  several 
who  could  speak  both  Russian  and  French. 

Others  from  the  remoter  corners  of  the  earth  were 
acquainted  with  the  languages  of  the  tribes  they  were 
accustomed  to  deal  with,  but  such  languages  would 
obviously  bear  little  affinity  to  those  of  Asia  or  Europe. 
On  one  occasion  I  had  to  explain  that  the  Zulu  "  clicks  " 
would  be  of  no  assistance  in  mastering  Persian  ! 

To  this  body  of  British  officers  were  added  a  splendid 
batch  of  Russian  officers  sent  out  from  London,  and 
various  other  Russians,  refugees  from  the  revolution  who 
joined  me  later,  and  whose  services  were  of  the  greatest 
value. 

This,  then,  will  suffice  for  a  general  introduction.  I 
have  endeavoured  to  make  clear  the  strategic,  and  political 
situation  that  resulted  in  the  sending  of  the  mission  : 
I  have  given  a  rough  description  of  the  country  over 
which  the  mission  was  to  seek  its  adventures,  and  I  have 
introduced  the  characters  who  are  to  take  part  in  these 
adventures. 


J 


CHAPTER    II 
A    PLEASURE    TRIP    ON    RECONNAISSANCE 

ON  December  24,  1917,  while  in  command  of  the 
1st  Infantry  Brigade  on  the  North- West  Frontier 
of  India,  I  received  secret  orders  to  report  at  Army  Head 
Quarters  at  Delhi,  with  a  view  to  proceeding  overseas 
on  special  work. 

The  Frontier  Tribes,  who  in  the  previous  year  had 
made  things  quite  lively  for  us,  had  been  lulled  to  rest 
by  the  various  ingenuities  of  frightfulness  that  accompany 
modern  war — aeroplanes  and  armoured  cars  having 
quite  taken  the  heart  out  of  them. 

Things  were  distinctly  dull,  and  one  was  beginning 
to  feel  that  one  had  drifted  into  a  backwater,  when  the 
welcome  orders  came  bringing  the  longed-for  opportunity 
of  plunging  once  more  into  the  tide. 

Arrangements  for  departure  occupied  the  shortest 
possible  time,  and  after  a  brief  stay  at  Army  Head 
Quarters  in  Delhi  for  the  purpose  of  conference  and 
selection  of  Staff,  I  embarked  at  Karachi  on  January  6, 
1918,  reaching  Basra — the  new  Basra,  with  its  wonder- 
ful development  and  miles  of  wharves — on  January  12th. 

On  the  morning  of  January  18th  I  arrived  in  Baghdad 
and  reported  to  General  Head  Quarters. 

So  far,  I  was  the  single  representative  of  my  force, 
and  though  impatient  of  delay,  it  was  obviously  neces- 
sary for  me  to  await  my  officers  there.     Even  had  they 

11 


12     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

been  at  once  available,  a  certain  amount  of  delay  would 
have  been  inevitable.  There  were  plans  to  be  considered, 
experts  to  be  consulted,  office  arrangements  to  be  per- 
fected and  the  thousand  and  one  things  to  be  attended 
to  that  must  crop  up  on  such  occasions. 

In  the  first  place  it  was  desirable  to  appreciate  the 
situation  and  to  realize  what  difficulties  would  have  to 
be  overcome.  For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to  study 
maps  and  get  in  touch  with  the  latest  intelligence  from 
the  regions  in  which  we  would  be  operating.  In  this 
matter  I  was  greatly  helped  by  Major  Sir  Walter  Barttelot, 
D.S.O.,  of  the  Coldstream  Guards,  who  had  recently 
traversed  the  whole  route  while  the  Russians  were  holding 
it  and  before  their  line  had  broken  away.  At  this  time, 
Captain  G.  Goldsmith  arrived  from  England  on  a  special 
mission  which  was  to  link  up  with  mine,  and  I  decided 
to  send  both  these  officers  through  in  motor-cars  a  few 
days  in  advance  of  my  party,  to  ensure  petrol  supply 
at  certain  points  en  route. 

I  calculated  that  I  should  be  able  to  start  in  a  few 
days  with  ten  or  twelve  officers  travelling  in  Ford  touring 
cars  and  vans. 

For  the  party  of  twelve  officers  and  two  clerks  which 
eventually  composed  the  advanced  party,  it  was 
necessary  to  have  four  touring  cars  and  thirty-six  vans — 
a  liberal  amount  of  transport,  it  may  be  thought,  for 
so  small  a  party.  But  the  vans  are  very  small  and  light, 
and  from  the  space  available  in  each  must  be  deducted 
the  requirements  of  the  driver,  including  liberal  bedding 
in  view  of  the  climatic  conditions  anticipated.  Then 
there  was  a  considerable  weight  of  money  in  Persian 
silver  and  English  gold,  an  office  establishment,  medical 
stores,  reserve  rations  and  other  impedimenta  insepar- 
able from  an  undertaking  of  this  sort. 

In  appreciating  the  situation,  the  following  unfavour- 
able factors  constituted  a  rather  formidable  list : 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE    13 

(a)  Road  difficulties. 
(6)  Winter  storms. 

(c)  Question  of  Persian    neutrality — a    very    doubtful 

factor  at  this  period. 

(d)  Hostility  of  Kurds. 

(e)  Possible   difficulties   with   revolutionary   Russians^ 

especially  with  Bolsheviks. 
(/)  Declared  hostility  of  the  Jangalis  of  Gilan  on  the 

South  Caspian  shore. 
(g)  Supplies  of  food. 
(h)  Supplies  of  petrol. 

To  take  these  in  turn :  The  road  from  Baghdad  to 
Khanikin,  94  miles,  over  the  ordinary  hard  clay  soil, 
was  reported  quite  good  in  dry  weather  ;  from  Khanikin 
to  Hamadan,  240  miles,  a  very  doubtful  road,  improved 
and  made  passable  for  motors  by  the  Russians,  difficult' 
in  good  weather,  impassable  in  bad ;  from  Hamadan 
to  Enzeli  (Kazian),  267  miles,  a  first-rate  road  made  by 
the  Russian  Road  Company  many  years  ago,  and  now 
sadly  in  need  of  repair. 

Snowstorms  were  reported  to  be  frequent  at  this 
time  of  year,  possibly  blocking  the  passes. 

Possible  hostility  of  Persians  ;  it  was  hard  to  feel 
certain  on  this  point.  The  known  factors  were  that  the 
inhabitants  were  well  armed  and  strongly  resented  our 
intrusion.  At  the  same  time  a  study  of  Persian  character 
in  the  world-famous  book  of  "  Haji  Baba  of  Ispahan  " 
led  one  to  discount  the  dangers  of  this  hostility. 

The  Kurds  lying  to  the  north  of  the  road  were  rather 
a  different  matter.  Living  in  the  most  mountainous 
regions  and  doing  a  good  business  in  highway  robbery, 
the  mention  of  their  name  strikes  awe  into  the  ordinary 
Persian,  though  the  Russians,  too,  held  them  in  great 
respect  and  certainly  over-estimated  their  ferocity. 
During  the  Russian  tenure  of  this  road,  losses  of  indi- 


n 


14     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

vidual  men  from  Kurdish  raiders  were  very  frequent. 
Comparison  was  made  between  them  and  the  Pathans 
of  the  North-West  Frontier  of  India,  and  had  this  been 
a  true  comparison  the  prospects  of  the  mission  would 
indeed  have  been  dismal. 

The  meeting  with  the  Russian  Army  in  revolution, 
and  especially  with  the  Bolshevik  portion  of  it,  seemed 
to  promise  insuperable  difficulties,  as  the  Bolsheviks 
had  already,  in  resentment  at  the  British  Government's 
refusal  of  recognition,  adopted  a  strongly  anti-British 
attitude. 

The  Jangalis  of  Gilan,  under  the  redoubtable  revolu- 
tionary leader  Kuchik  Khan,  might  offer  an  even  greater 
obstacle  to  the  success  of  the  mission.  Mirza  Kuchik 
Khan  had  forcibly  taken  over  the  administration  of  the 
whole  of  the  Gilan  country,  through  which  lay  the  last 
70  miles  of  our  road,  had  adopted  a  fiercely  anti-foreign 
programme  threatening  death  and  destruction  to  all 
white  men  who  came  his  way,  and  was  now,  in  con- 
junction with  the  Bolsheviks,  holding  Enzeli,  the  only 
port  on  the  Caspian  from  which  we  could  hope  to  embark. 

Difficulties  of  this  sort  usually  melt  away  when  firmly 
confronted,  but  should  they  be  all  successfully  over- 
come, we  would  be  eventually  landed  in  the  port  of  Baku, 
more  strongly  Bolshevik  and  anti-British  at  this  time 
than  any  point  in  the  Caucasus. 

Next,  the  question  of  food  supply  for  fifty-five  officers 
and  men  would  certainly  prove  difficult  in  a  famine-stricken 
and  war-devastated  country  in  the  depth  of  winter  ;  and 
finally  the  question  of  petrol  supply  was  extraordinarily 
difficult  and  was  naturally  the  key  of  the  whole  situation, 
as  every  pint  had  to  come  from  Baghdad,  and  the  diffi- 
culty thus  increased  in  geometrical  progression  with 
every  mile  of  road  traversed. 

The  risk  of  failure  of  petrol  supply  was  very  con- 
siderable, but  in  the  end  no  such  failure  occurred.     From 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE    15 

Baghdad  to  Kermanshah,  where  we  met  the  first  Russian 
detachment,  we  carried  our  own  petrol,  filling  up  from 
the  last  dump  150  miles  from  Baghdad.  From  Ker- 
manshah  onwards  the  Russian  authorities  helped  us. 

Major  Barttelot  and  Captain  Goldsmith  left  on 
January  24th  with  an  escort  of  one  light  armoured  motor- 
car under  Lieutenant  Singer,  having  orders  to  proceed  as 
far  as  Hamadan,  ensure  the  petrol  supply  and  await 
the  arrival  of  my  party  there. 

The  risk  of  so  small  a  party  entering  Kurdish  territory 
would  have  been  considerable  ;  but  the  moral  effect  of 
the  armoured  car  is  enormous,  and  the  advent  of  winter 
had  driven  most  of  the  Kurds  to  the  lower  valleys  on  the 
Mesopotamian  side. 

By  January  26th  my  party  had  grown  to  fourteen, 
and  at  last  the  moment  had  arrived  when  a  start  might 
be  made.  During  these  days  of  waiting,  I  had  had  to 
consider  whether  it  would  not  perhaps  be  better  for  me 
to  push  on  to  Hamadan  alone,  and  so  get  more  in  touch 
with  local  conditions  and  begin  collecting  information. 
But  I  decided  against  this  plan  for  two  reasons,  firstly 
because  it  would  make  communication  with  London  more 
difficult,  and  there  were  many  important  minor  points 
not  yet  settled  ;  and  secondly  because  a  possibly  long 
halt  in  Hamadan  would  attract  attention  to  the  mission 
and  give  our  numerous  ill-wishers  plenty  of  leisure  to 
plan  out  annoyances  for  our  further  move. 

I  had  cabled  home  stating  that  I  had  decided  to  stay 
in  Baghdad  till  a  small  party  of  officers  had  been  col- 
lected, and  then  to  hasten  on  a  non-stop  journey  through 
to  Enzeli,  thence  straight  on  boardship  and  to  Baku, 
where  I  would  arrive,  if  all  went  well,  in  about  twelve 
days,  and  before  any  of  the  various  enemy  plans  to  stop 
us  could  mature.  In  theory  the  idea  of  the  non-stop 
journey  was  delightful ;  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  journey 
eventually  involved  more  stopping  than  travelling. 


L 


16     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

The  soldiers'  worst  enemy,  or  best  friend,  the  weather, 
turned  against  us  at  the  start,  and  put  a  stop  to  any- 
thing in  the  nature  of  rapid  progress. 

At  last,  at  7  a.m.  on  January  27th,  the  forty-one 
Ford  cars  were  lined  up  outside  the  walls  of  Baghdad 
waiting  for  the  word  to  start.  I  had  chosen  the  follow- 
ing officers  to  accompany  me  :  Captain  Dunning,  A.D.C., 
Lieut. -Colonel  Duncan,  A.Q.M.G.,  Captain  Saunders, 
G.S.O.,  Captain  Stork,  Staff  Captain,  Captains  Hooper, 
Jackson  and  Annett,  representing  Infantry,  Artillery  and 
Cavalry ;  Major  Brunskill  and  Captain  John,  Medical ; 
Captains  Campbell  and  Aldham,  Supply  and  Mechanical 
Transport ;  and  as  clerks,  Sergeants  Routledge  and 
Watson. 

For  fighting  purposes  we  could  muster  forty-one 
rifles  from  among  the  drivers,  and  we  had  one  Lewis-gun 
in  charge  of  Captain  Hooper, 

With  a  punctual  start  and  fine  weather  the  distance 
to  Khanikin,  94  miles,  was  covered  without  excessive 
delay.  But  even  under  such  favourable  conditions  it 
took  ten  and  a  half  hours  to  cover  the  distance.  As  it 
is  imperative  in  such  circumstances  to  keep  a  convoy 
together,  all  cars  must  halt  at  intervals  till  the  repair 
car  at  the  rear  of  the  column  joins  up  and  reports  "all 
correct."  The  delay,  therefore,  to  be  expected  when 
travelling  with  forty-one  cars  is  roughly  forty-one  times 
the  average  delay  when  travelling  with  one  car.  It  may 
be  considered  a  good  day  when  the  average  speed 
approaches  10  miles  an  hour. 

Since  my  arrival  in  Baghdad  the  weather  had  been 
uniformly  fine,  but  it  seemed  too  much  to  hope  for  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  blue  sky.  Sure  enough,  as  we  approached 
the  mountains  the  clouds  gathered  over  the  distant  hill- 
tops, and  there  was  every  indication  of  the  worst 
possible  weather,  an  indication  completely  fulfilled  in 
the  next  few  hours. 


I 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE    17 

After  spending  a  very  comfortable  night  in  a  ruined 
Turkish  building  at  Khanikin,  and  receiving  much  kind 
hospitality  from  the  British  garrison  there,  we  left  again 
on  the  28th  for  Pai-Taq,  61  miles,  reaching  our  destina- 
tion in  a  violent  gale  accompanied  by  sleet,  after  a  run 
of  about  ten  hours.  We  had  averaged  only  6  miles  an 
hour  owing  to  bad  roads,  bad  weather  and  bad  luck 
with  repairs.  The  rain  started  almost  as  soon  as  we 
left  Khanikin,  and  amply  fulfilled  the  gloomy  prophecies 
of  yesterday. 

The  village  of  Pai-Taq  at  the  foot  of  the  Taq-i-Giri 
Pass  afforded  us  shelter  of  a  sort  for  the  night.  The 
wretched  villages  all  along  this  road  had  been  destroyed 
time  after  time  by  Russians  and  Turks  in  turn,  in  the 
course  of  the  fighting  during  the  two  previous  years. 
The  remaining  miserable  inhabitants  wander,  gaunt  with 
famine,  among  the  ruins,  and  tearfully  regard  the  advent 
of  yet  another  host  of  invaders,  of  yet  another  nation- 
ality. They  will  soon  learn  that  the  new-comers  are 
not  destroyers  but  restorers. 

From  Pai-Taq  the  next  stage  of  the  journey  was  to 
land  us  in  Harunabad,  but  starting  on  January  29th 
it  was  not  till  February  2nd  that  we  actually  completed 
those  41  miles.  The  road  from  Pai-Taq  ascends  for  the 
first  3  miles  very  steeply  up  the  face  of  a  cliff,  and  as 
we  got  under  way  at  break  of  day  in  the  worst  sort  of 
weather,  our  prospects  did  not  seem  very  bright.  We 
soon  found  that  pushing  our  cars  up  the  incline  by  hand 
was  good  enough  exercise,  but  not  helpful  from  the  point 
of  view  of  progress. 

At  the  top  of  the  cliff  it  was  pleasant  to  find  a  rosy- 
faced  Hampshire  lad  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  rock,  a 
sentry  from  one  of  the  last  picquets  that  guarded  our 
road  for  us.  This  war  has  produced  many  scenes  of  mar- 
vellous contrast,  but  I  think  the  picture  of  that  young 
soldier   was   among    the    most   striking.     There   on   the 

3 


18     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

road  from  Persia  to  Babylon,  the  road  trodden  by  the 
Medes  and  Persians,  on  the  rocky  barren  hillside  of 
the  Persian  mountains  sat  a  youngster  from  the  kindly 
Hampshire  downs. 

When  the  top  of  this  the  steepest  portion  of  the 
road  has  been  successfully  climbed,  another  3  miles  of 
bad  road  remains  before  the  watershed  is  reached.  It 
remained  to  be  seen  whether  this  second  half  would  be 
at  all  passable  in  the  snowstorm,  which  continued  with 
unabated  vigour.  At  this  point  we  found  the  camp  of 
the  1/4  Hampshire  Regiment,  close  to  the  village  of 
Surkhadisa,  and  a  halt  was  made  to  fill  up  our  petrol 
tanks  and  await  a  break  in  the  weather  before  bidding 
a  farewell  to  the  last  outpost  of  the  Mesopotamian  army, 
and  finally  launching  out  on  our  own  resources.  The 
longed-for  break  occurred  soon  after  1.30  p.m.,  and 
the  journey  was  resumed  in  high  spirits.  But  not  for 
long.  The  sun  shone  brightly  for  precisely  ten  minutes, 
when  down  came  the  snow  again  in  a  blinding  whirl  that 
made  further  driving,  on  a  mountain  road  that  was 
entirely  obliterated,  a  matter  of  absolute  impossibility. 
So  after  one  or  two  ineffectual  charges  into  snowdrifts,  we 
had  to  bow  to  the  inevitable  and  get  back  to  Surkhadisa, 
where  we  tucked  ourselves  up  very  comfortably  in  a 
ruined  caravanserai.  Most  of  the  roof  was  down,  but 
enough  remained  to  give  shelter  to  us  all,  and  the  presence 
of  two  dead  horses  did  not  prevent  us  from  feeling  glad 
of  the  shelter. 

Evils  and  blessings  balance  'as  a  rule.  As  witness 
those  horrible  horses.  In  summer  time  they  would  have 
made  the  whole  atmosphere  unbearable.  As  it  was, 
being  frozen,  they  were  only  remarkable  to  the  eye. 
So  with  the  insects  of  these  filthy  serais  ;  they  were 
all  dormant  for  the  winter  and  left  us  in  peace. 

So  again  with  the  Kurds.  The  same  snow  that 
annoyed  us  had  driven  them  down  from  the  hills,  and 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE    19 

had  left  the  few  who  remained  very  disinclined  to  molest 
us.  Under  normal  summer  circumstances  the  risk  of 
bullets  from  Kurds,  and  typhus  from  insects,  would 
have  been  considerable.  "  Autant  de  gagne  sur 
I'ennemi." 

In  the  serai  at  Surkhadisa  we  were  fated  to  stay  for 
several  days,  each  day  reconnoitring  with  a  view  to  getting 
the  cars  to  the  top  of  the  pass  ;  but  as  snow  fell  daily 
and  the  drifts  became  deeper  and  deeper  as  the  top  was 
approached,  it  seemed  that  we  might  be  compelled  to 
stay  for  an  indefinite  time. 

At  last,  on  February  2nd,  I  decided  to  make  an  early 
start  and  try  to  get  over  the  pass  before  the  snow-surface 
melted. 

Starting  at  4  a.m.  in  bright  moonlight,  the  top  of  the 
pass  was  reached  by  7.30  a.m.  Nothing  could  exceed 
the  beauty  of  the  narrow  snowclad  glen  which  leads  to 
the  summit,  and  as  we  pushed  the  cars  slowly  over  the 
crisp  snow,  we  were  confronted  every  now  and  then  by 
grey  visions  of  passing  Kurds,  who  flitted  harmlessly 
by.  The  only  test  of  the  hostility  of  these  heavily  armed 
figures  is  when  they  open  fire. 

The  British  Consul  at  Kermanshah,  which  lay  some 
70  railes  ahead  of  us,  had  evolved  a  system  of  road-guards 
from  among  the  Kurds  themselves,  making  it  difficult 
for  the  new-comer  to  be  certain  whether  any  particular 
individual  was  there  to  guard  us,  or  whether  he  was  the 
Kurd  we  were  to  be  guarded  against.  In  any  case  there 
is  not  much  in  it.  He  could  assume  either  character  as 
the  occasion  dictated. 

However,  the  mere  fact  of  there  being  road-guards 
and  consuls  ahead  of  us,  and  bank  managers,  and 
alongside  of  us  telegraph  and  telephone  wires,  made  us 
feel  that,  however  wild  the  land  we  were  in,  we  were 
not  quite  out  of  touch  with  civilization.  True,  the 
telegraph  and  telephone  wires  were  hanging  in  festoons, 


20     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

but  the  poles  and  insulators  remained,  and  the  line  could 
be  restored  without  much  difficulty.  These  consuls 
and  bank  managers  are  the  real  heroes  whose  tale  is 
seldom  told.  Through  all  the  troubles  and  vicissitudes 
of  these  years  of  war,  they  (and  their  brave  wives  with 
them)  have  kept  the  flag  flying  in  these  remote  corners 
of  the  earth.  Harried  by  Turks,  threatened  by  local 
disturbances  and  sometimes  compelled  to  fly  for  refuge, 
leaving  all  their  wordly  goods  behind  them,  they  reappear 
when  the  storm  is  over  and  complacently  continue  their 
truly  imperial  tasks. 

The  rate  of  progress  to  the  top  of  the  pass  was  just 
one  mile  an  hour,  and  this  only  achieved  by  dint  of 
pushing  and  pulling  and  occasional  digging.  However,  at 
7  a.m.  we  found  ourselves  with  a  nice  down  slope  before 
us  and  the  worst  part  of  our  labours  over.  At  Surkhadisa 
we  had  been  joined  by  a  light  armoured  car  as  escort, 
but  it  was  quite  impossible  to  get  anything  but  the  very 
light  Fords  over  the  difficult  road,  and  we  had  to  leave 
this  escort  behind. 

Up  to  this  point  signs  of  famine  were  numerous,  and 
we  not  infrequently  passed  the  corpse  of  some  poor, 
weary,  hungry  fellow  who  had  given  up  the  struggle  by 
the  roadside.  At  Karind,  20  miles  from  Pai-Taq,  we 
encountered  gangs  of  villagers,  men  and  women,  work- 
ing under  the  guidance  of  an  American  missionary  at  the 
usual  form  of  famine  relief — road-improvements.  This 
was  part  of  an  extensive  system  of  relief  inaugurated  by 
the  British  Consul  at  Kermanshah. 

From  Karind  another  20  miles  brought  us  to  our 
destination  of  Harunabad,  having  covered  the  distance 
of  41  miles  in  twelve  hours,  or  at  the  rate  of  a  little  better 
that  3  miles  an  hour. 

At  Harunabad,  a  typical  Kurd  village,  we  passed  a 
very  comfortable  night  in  some  of  the  few  houses  still 
left  standing,  and  nothing  occurred  to  disturb  our  slumbers 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE    21 

except  a  visit  from  a  donkey  who  insisted  on  sharing  our 
sleeping  apartment. 

At  6.30  a.m.  on  February  3rd  we  were  off  again  for 
Kermanshah,  and  managed  to  do  the  40  miles  in  seven 
hours,  a  good  deal  better  timing  than  yesterday's. 

The  road  was  mostly  across  the  flat-bottomed  valleys 
common  to  this  part  of  Persia.  The  most  important 
of  these  valleys  is  the  Mahi-Dasht,  which  we  were  lucky 
to  cross  in  the  early  hours  of  the  day.  This  plain  is 
usually  a  sea  of  mud  of  the  consistency  of  cream,  and 
in  wet  weather  forms  an  impassable  obstacle. 

At  the  outskirts  of  the  town  we  found  two  Kuban 
Cossacks  on  their  shaggy  horses,  waiting  to  show  us  the 
way  to  our  billets.  They  were  fine -looking  fellows, 
belonging  to  Colonel  Bicherakov's  "  partisans."  Circling 
the  town  under  their  guidance,  we  came  to  a  well-built 
Persian  house  standing  opposite  to  the  British  Consulate, 
the  Imperial  Bank  of  Persia  and  the  American  Mission. 
This  house  had  been  arranged  for  our  accommodation, 
and  provided  the  bath  of  which  we  were  very  much  in 
need. 

It  will  be  necessary  now  to  introduce  Colonel  Bichera- 
kov,  a  truly  heroic  figure,  as  he  and  his  picturesque 
Cossacks  have  much  to  do  with  the  further  narrative. 
Bicherakov  is  a  man  of  about  forty  years  of  age,  slightly 
built  and  of  commanding  presence.  He  is  an  Ossietin 
Cossack,  one  of  those  semi-wild  tribes  that  are  typical 
of  the  North  Caucasus.  Throughout  the  war  he  has 
done  splendid  service,  and  has  been  wounded  on  many 
occasions.  His  men  worship  him  as  a  fearless  leader. 
Incidentally,  he  is  C.B.,  D.S.O. 

At  the  time  of  our  meeting  he  was  commanding  a 
mixed  Cossack  force  of  all  arms.  His  men,  though  not 
unaffected  by  the  undisciplined  ideas  of  the  revolution, 
had  resolved  to  be  faithful  to  the  death  to  Bicherakov's 
person,  and  their  unflinching  loyalty  to  him  has  since 


22     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

enabled  him  to  accomplish  great  feats.  Why  the  Rus- 
sians have  chosen  the  name  of  "  partisans  "  ^  for  this  force 
I  do  not  know.  With  this  detachment  was  Lieut. -Colonel 
Clutterbuck,  of  the  Indian  Army,  acting  as  liason  officer, 
a  Russian  scholar  and  a  great  favourite  with  the  Cossacks. 
In  addition  to  these  troops  Kermanshah  had  a  Russian 
wireless  installation  worked  by  men  of  the  New  Zealand 
detachment. 

Our  welcome  from  the  European  community  was 
warm,  and  the  contrast  of  sitting  at  an  English  dinner- 
table  in  the  Consulate  with  white  linen  and  glass  made 
us  smile  as  we  thought  of  the  friendly  donkey  and  the 
dirty  rooms  of  the  night  before.  Colonel  Kennion,  the 
well-known  traveller  and  "  shikari,"  is  the  representative 
here  of  His  Britannic  Majesty's  Government.  Mrs. 
Kennion,  who  shares  his  risks  and  dangers,  is  one  of  those 
brave  Englishwomen,  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken, 
who  do  so  much  in  an  unobtrusive  way  for  the  needs  of 
the  Empire. 

Delightful  as  Kermanshah  was,  it  was  not  possible 
to  spare  time  for  a  halt,  though  the  cars  would  have 
been  glad  of  a  day's  rest,  so  on  the  following  morning, 
February  4th,  at  5.30  a.m.  we  started  for  Hamadan  (103 
miles),  hoping  to  do  the  trip  easily  in  two  days.  From 
the  start  things  did  not  go  well  with  us.  Within  the 
first  quarter  of  a  mile  we  had  a  broken  axle  that  delayed 
the  column  for  an  hour  and  a  half.  At  20  miles  we  passed 
Bisitun,  with  the  ancient  rock  inscriptions  of  Darius  I, 
thence  over  a  single  arch  bridge  blown  up  by  the  Turks, 
but  with  just  sufficient  of  the  arch  remaining  to  suit 
the  width  of  our  wheels.  The  ground  here  was  free  from 
snow,  the  sky  was  blue  and  the  road  so  good  that  a  Staff 

'  Editor's    Note. — The  word    *'  partisan "  is   used   equally  in 

Bulgarian  to  express  that  familiar  fauna  of  the  Balkans  called 

by  the  Turk  the  "  komitadji,'*  by  the  Greek  the  "  andartis,"  by 
ourselves  the  "  irregular." 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE   23 

Officer  yielded  to  the  fatal  temptation  to  say,  "  Well, 
we've  got  over  our  troubles  now  ;  this  is  like  a  pleasure 
trip."  He  made  that  remark  at  about  the  fortieth  mile, 
and  at  the  forty-first  mile  we  reached  the  foot  of  the  small 
but  steep  Sahneh  Pass  where  we  had  to  man-handle 
each  car  up  the  slope,  taking  three  hours  to  cover 
the  distance  of  one  mile.  At  the  fifty-sixth  mile  the 
cars  were  running  well,  and  we  reached  the  town  of 
Kangavar  where,  close  to  the  ruins  of  a  temple 
dating  back  to  classical  Greek  times,  a  small  Russian 
detachment  welcomed  us  in  the  overwhelming  style 
of  Russian  hospitality,  with  a  hot  meal  for  officers  and 
men.  It  was  getting  late  now,  4  p.m.,  and  we  had  22 
miles  still  to  do.  It  was  obvious  that  we  should  get 
belated  in  any  case,  and  might  experience  increased 
difficulties  and  dangers  in  the  dark.  But  on  the  other 
hand  we  might  never  reach  our  destination  at  all,  and 
the  chance,  therefore,  of  giving  the  hungry  drivers  at 
least  one  full  meal  was  too  good  to  be  lost.  Moreover, 
we  now  had  with  us  a  guide,  in  the  person  of  Lieutenant 
Georgiev  of  the  Russian  Army,  who  had  been  detailed 
by  Colonel  Bicherakov  to  accompany  us  as  far  as  Hama- 
dan  ;  a  most  useful  officer,  without  whose  aid  we  would 
probably  not  have  reached  Asadabad  at  all  that  night. 
So,  having  yielded  to  temptation,  we  left  again  at 
5  p.m.  Darkness  soon  came  on,  and  the  road  was 
generally  just  a  cross-country  track  often  hardly  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  surrounding  plain.  The  drivers 
were  almost  too  sleepy  to  carry  on,  and  at  8  p.m.  I  was 
nearly  tempted  to  halt  in  the  open  plain.  The  night 
was  exceptionally  fine,  and  nothing  seemed  less  pro- 
bable  than  a  change  in  the  weather.  However,  by  good 
fortune  as  events  proved,  I  decided  to  press  on,  and  we 
eventually  reached  Asadabad  and  got  the  cars  and  our- 
selves into  a  fairly  clean  serai,  where  we  fell  asleep  with 
the  pleasurable  anticipation  of  an  early  start  on  the  next 


24     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

morning,  a  stiff  climb  up  the  pass,  7,600  feet  high,  and 
an  easy  run  into  Hamadan  only  25  miles  ahead.  The 
drivers  had  been  at  their  work  on  this  day  for  eighteen 
hours,  and  doubtless  looked  forward  as  much  as  any  of 
us  to  the  prospective  comfort  of  decent  billets  and  a 
day  or  two's  halt.  This  was  the  night  of  February  4:th. 
The  cars  did  not  reach  Hamadan  till  February  11  th  ! 

I  was  up  at  4  a.m.  and  stepped  outside  our  little 
sleeping  room  to  see  that  things  were  getting  ready  for 
the  start.  My  horror  and  surprise  may  be  imagined 
when  I  found  a  foot  of  snow  on  the  ground  and  the  sky 
filled  with  fast-falling  heavy  flakes.  My  first  feeling  was 
one  of  thankfulness  that  I  had  not  camped  out  for  the 
night  on  the  open  plain  :  had  we  done  so,  it  is  hard  to 
see  how  we  should  ever  have  extricated  ourselves  from 
our  dijBficulties.  The  next  was  naturally  one  of  exaspera- 
tion at  further  delay  just  when  time  was  becoming  more 
and  more  valuable.  *'  Pleasure  trip,"  indeed  !  Let  me 
dissociate  myself  on  this  one  occasion  from  my  Staff's 
views. 

The  whole  of  the  day  was  spent  in  endeavours  to 
clear  the  pass,  but  as  fast  as  we  dug  through  the  drifts 
the  snow  came  down  and  obliterated  our  work.  On  the 
third  day,  February  6th,  large  gangs  of  villagers  were 
employed  but  without  success,  and  the  snow  continued 
to  fall. 

On  February  7th  I  determined  to  ride  over  the  pass 
with  one  Staff  Officer.  After  procuring  two  decent  ponies 
and  a  local  guide,  Colonel  Duncan  and  myself  set  off 
in  the  early  morning,  reaching  Zageh  on  the  far  side  of 
the  pass  at  about  noon,  and  motoring  thence  into 
Hamadan  in  a  Russian  car  with  Lieutenant  Zypalov, 
who  had  been  sent  out  from  Hamadan  to  meet  me. 

My  object  in  getting  to  Hamadan  ahead  of  the  party 
was  to  procure  assistance  from  that  side  in  getting  the 
cars  over  (they  were  eventually  got  over  with  drag  ropes) 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE   25 

and  also  to  meet  the  many  important  people  awaiting  me 
there.  Firstly  there  was  General  Offley-Shore,  recently 
returned  from  Tiflis,  who  was  to  post  me  in  all  the 
latest  information  concerning  the  South  Caucasus.  Major 
Sir  W.  Barttelot  and  Captain  Goldsmith,  who  had  been 
collecting  local  information  and  arranging  petrol  supply, 
should  also  be  here.  In  addition  to  these,  there  was 
valuable  knowledge  to  be  acquired  from  the  Consul,  Mr. 
McDowell,  and  from  the  Bank  Manager,  Mr.  McMurray. 
And  here  I  was  to  meet  General  Baratov,  lately  com- 
manding the  victorious  Russian  Army  that  had  fought 
the  Turks  on  this  road.  He  was  now  most  uncomfort- 
ably remaining  in  command  of  revolutionary  troops 
who  would  obey  no  orders. 

The  problem  of  the  evacuation  of  these  disorderly 
troops  was  most  difficult.  Under  normal  circumstances 
an  evacuation  is  difficult  enough,  but  with  troops  that 
defy  all  authority  it  was  obviously  an  almost  impossible 
task.  The  great  point  was  that  the  individual  soldier 
was  most  anxious  to  get  home,  so  he  was  certain  to  move, 
with  or  without  orders,  in  that  direction.  With  General 
Baratov  was  Colonel  Rowlandson  as  liaison  officer. 

On  arrival  at  Hamadan  we  found  most  comfortable 
quarters  at  the  Bank  House.  The  same  roof  sheltered 
Major  Barttelot,  Captain  Goldsmith,  General  Shore  and 
others,  and  the  charming  and  indefatigable  hostess  seemed 
prepared  to  welcome  any  number  more. 

Throughout  all  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  force  in 
North  Persia  the  Bank  House  at  Hamadan  stands  out 
as  a  landmark,  a  never-failing  refuge  for  the  weary,  a 
centre  of  genial  hospitality  and  a  focus  of  all  the  local 
political  news. 

The  first  thing  to  do  now  was  to  send  on  Captain 
Goldsmith  to  explore  the  further  road  to  Enzeli  and  to 
see  about  our  petrol.  He  accordingly  left  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  and  fate  ordained  that  we  should  not  meet  again. 


26     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

As  he  travelled  singly  on  a  road  crowded  with  retiring 
Russian  troops,  he  attracted  no  attention,  and,  being  an 
adept  in  finding  his  way  through  difficult  places,  he  reached 
Enzeli  and  thence  Baku  before  local  suspicions  were 
aroused.  As  my  party  did  not  reach  Baku  till  seven 
months  later  our  prospect  of  meeting  was  small,  and 
he  had  by  that  time  joined  up  with  Colonel  Pike  in  the 
North  Caucasus. 

On  February  11th  the  cars  at  last  got  over  the  pass. 
On  arriving  at  Hamadan  the  entire  party  of  officers  and 
men  were  most  hospitably  entertained  by  the  American 
missionaries,  who  could  not  have  welcomed  their  own 
men  more  warmly.  Comfortable  billets  were  found  for 
all,  the  cars  were  overhauled  and  all  was  ready  for  a 
start,  when  further  falls  of  snow  blocked  the  Sultan 
Bulaq  Pass  which  lay  just  ahead  of  us,  rendering  it  im- 
possible to  start  till  February  15th.  On  that  day  we 
got  away  by  6.30  a.m.,  and  now  that  we  were  on  the 
well-made  Russian  road  we  had  every  hope  of  making 
good  progress,  a  hope  that  was,  this  time,  not  to  be 
disappointed.  The  snow  would  have  again  blocked  us, 
but  the  evacuating  Russians  in  their  anxiety  to  get  them- 
selves home  worked  as  they  had  never  worked  before, 
and  the  drifts  were  soon  cut  through.  We  crossed  the 
pass  without  great  difficulty  in  fine  weather,  and  reached 
Aveh  (75  miles)  by  2  p.m.,  an  average  of  about  10  miles 
an  hour.  The  next  day,  February  15th,  we  reached 
Kasvin,  where  again  we  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the 
Imperial  Bank  of  Persia,  represented  here  by  Mr.  Goodwin. 
Kasvin  is  a  town  of  50,000  inhabitants  and  is  one  of  the 
many  earlier  capitals  of  Persia.  It  lies  at  the  junction 
of  the  Enzeli-Teheran  road  with  the  road  by  which  we 
had  come.  Here  it  was  useful  to  be  able  to  consult  with 
Sir  Charles  Marling,  the  British  Minister  in  Teheran, 
before  moving  on  to  the  Caspian  and  possibly  leaving 
Persia  finally  behind  us.     Acting  later  in  the  Caucasus, 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE   27 

a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Persian  situation  would 
be  indispensable,  and  it  was  a  great  advantage  to  have 
had  the  experienced  opinions  of  this  Minister. 

Kasvin  itself  did  not  seem  to  welcome  us  at  all.  In 
Hamadan  there  had  been  a  few  smiles  among  the  crowd, 
but  as  we  entered  this  city  we  got  only  scowls  ;  the 
populace,  however,  instead  of  resorting  to  violence, 
contented  themselves  with  holding  anti-British  meetings 
in  the  mosques,  and  passing  fierce  resolutions.  Our  party 
of  twelve  officers,  two  clerks  and  forty-one  drivers  was 
certainly  not  strong.  But  the  forty-one  cars  gave  quite 
a  false  impression  of  strength,  and  we  also  had  now  with 
us  as  escort  the  armoured  car  under  Lieutenant  Singer 
that  had  preceded  us  to  Hamadan.  It  is  probable  that 
but  for  the  armoured  car  the  resolutions  might  have 
ended  in  action,  although  this  would  have  involved  the 
breaking  of  a  well-established  rule. 

At  Kasvin  we  learnt  that  further  progress  was  im- 
possible. Mirza  Kuchik  Khan,  the  leader  of  the  Gilanis 
whose  district  we  were  about  to  enter,  had  vowed  not 
to  let  the  British  through,  and  his  Committee  were  work- 
ing at  Enzeli  in  conjunction  with  the  Bolshevik  Com- 
mittee, who  were  equally  determined  not  to  allow  our 
passage.  Still,  so  many  of  these  granite  difficulties 
had  up  till  now  turned  out  tissue-paper,  that  it  was 
obviously  necessary  to  see  if  this  last  "  impossible " 
could  not  be  managed.  Arrangements  were  accordingly 
made  for  an  early  start  on  the  following  morning. 

A  short  description  of  the  "  Jangali  "  or  "  Gilan  '* 
movement  is  now  necessary. 

The  Elburz  Mountains,  the  highest  peak  of  which, 
Demavend,  near  Teheran,  ascends  to  over  18,000  feet 
above  sea-level,  form  a  wall  separating  the  Persian  plateau 
from  the  Caspian  Sea.  The  watershed  lies  about  50 
miles  from  the  shore,  to  which  the  spurs  gradually  descend 
through  thick  and  beautiful  forest.     The  country  com- 


u 


28     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

prised  in  this  area  is  divided  into  two  provinces,  Mazan- 
deran  composing  the  eastern  half  and  Gilan  the  western. 
Through  the  latter  country  runs  the  road  connecting 
Persia  via  the  Caspian  with  Europe.  Resht,  the  capital 
of  Gilan,  lies  on  this  road  about  20  miles  from  the  Enzeli- 
Kazian  port,  whose  double  name  requires  explanation. 
The  harbour  is  formed  by  two  long  sandspits  running 
from  east  and  west  like  the  jaws  of  a  huge  pair  of 
pincers,  enclosing  a  large  shallow  lake.  On  the  western 
spit  lies  the  old  Persian  town  of  Enzeli,  on  the  eastern 
spit  the  new  Russian  town  of  Kazian,  built  by  the  Russian 
Road  Company  in  connection  with  their  valuable  trade 
concessions.  Only  a  few  hundred  yards  of  water  separ- 
ate the  two  towns,  and  while  the  wharves  lie  almost 
entirely  on  the  Kazian  side,  the  merchants'  residences, 
the  banks  and  all  the  hotels  lie  on  the  Enzeli  side,  where 
all  business  is  transacted. 

The  inhabitants  of  Gilan  are  spoken  of  as  "  Jangalis  " 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  live  in  a  forest  country 
or  jungle.  It  is  a  misleading  term,  as  it  is  apt  to  convey 
the  idea  of  something  wild  and  fierce  and  uncivilized, 
and  the  Gilani  is  none  of  these  things. 

The  so-called  **  Jangali "  movement  was  started  by 
a  well-known  revolutionary  of  the  name  of  Mirza 
Kuchik  Khan,  an  honest,  well-meaning  idealist.  His 
programme  includes  all  the  wearisome  platitudes  that 
ring  the  changes  on  the  will-o'-the-wisp  ideals  of  liberty, 
equality  and  fraternity.  ''  Persia  for  the  Persians " 
and  "  Away  with  the  foreigners  "  are  other  obvious  items, 
a  further  enumeration  of  which  is  not  necessary  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  they  are  all  obvious,  all  fallacious  and 
the  world  is  already  tired  of  them  all. 

The  next  scene  in  the  play  is  also  an  unvarying  one 
in  such  dramas.  Kuchik  Khan  appoints  a  Committee 
to  assist  in  the  control  of  affairs,  and  from  that  date 
the  Committee  run  Kuchik,   who  thinks  he  still  leads, 


A  PLEASURE  TRIP  ON  RECONNAISSANCE   2d 

while  being  merely  pushed.  And  do  the  Committee 
really  lead,  or  are  they  also  being  a  little  pushed  ?  The 
answer  to  this  question  is  one  which  affords  point  where 
we  find  the  solution  to  many  such  problems — German 
and  Turkish  agents  and  propaganda.  Kuchik's  troops 
are  led  by  a  German  officer,  von  Passchen,  and  are  drilled 
by  Austrian  instructors.  Turkish  machine-guns  and 
ammunition  form  a  large  part  of  the  material  of  his 
army.  So  we  have  first  the  leader  Kuchik  Khan,  not 
very  intelligent,  but  a  high-minded  enthusiast.  Pushing 
the  leader  we  have  the  Committee,  each  member  of  which 
has  private  ends  to  seek.  Pushing  the  Committee  we 
have  on  one  side  Germany  with  promises  of  pecuniary 
gain,  and  on  the  other  Turkey  with  spiritual  appeals 
to  religious  fanaticism  and  a  machine-gun  or  two.  What 
a  thing  it  is  to  be  a  leader !  Now  the  attitude  of 
these  Gilanis  towards  the  Russians  may  be  explained. 
The  general  feeling  of  the  North  Persians  towards  the 
Russians  may  be  described  politely  as  one  of  extreme 
dislike  ;  but  with  the  advent  of  the  revolution,  the  pro- 
claiming of  the  fraternity  business  and  the  withdrawal 
of  the  troops,  the  dislike  is  temporarily  put  on  one  side. 
Kuchik  Khan  is  only  too  glad  to  see  the  Russians  leaving 
Persia  (as  he  hopes  for  ever)  by  the  road  that  passes 
through  Gilan.  This  enables  him  to  buy  huge  stocks 
of  rifles  and  ammunition  at  very  low  prices.  So  their 
passage  is  in  every  way  facilitated,  and  a  combined  Com- 
mittee of  Bolsheviks  and  Jangalis  run  the  port  of  Enzeli, 
united  in  the  common  desire  to  thwart  the  British:  the 
Bolsheviks  chiefly  because  they  imagine  that  the  British 
are  out  to  prolong  the  war,  the  Jangali  because,  having 
at  last  thrown  off  the  Russian  burden,  they  fear  lest  the 
British  take  their  place  and  lest  their  conception  of 
**  Persia  for  the  Persians  "  be  once  more  indefinitely  de- 
ferred; and  both  of  them  because  they  are  the  victims 
(mostly  unknowingly)   of  subtle   propaganda. 


80     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Mirza  Kuchik  Khan  claims  to  have  5,000  troops,  and 
he  probably  has  that  number  of  armed  men.  What 
numbers  he  can  induce  to  take  the  field,  and  what  will 
be  their  fighting  value,  are  questions  that  later  events 
will  answer. 


I 


CHAPTER    in 
THE   SEA!      THE   SEA! 

AS  our  convoy  passed  out  of  the  Resht  gate  of  Kasvin 
at  daybreak  on  February  16th,  the  hearts  of  all 
were  elated  at  the  thought  that  by  to-morrow  night 
the  last  obstacles  would  have  been  surmounted  and 
the  party  embarked  on  the  Caspian,  heading  for  Baku. 
There  were  not  really  any  serious  grounds  for  believing 
that  we  should  get  through.  On  the  contrary,  the  hind- 
rances loomed  larger  than  ever.  But  our  party  contained 
no  pessimists,  and  we  felt  confident  that  whatever  diffi- 
culties arose  would  be  overcome. 

Since  leaving  Hamadan  the  whole  road  had  been 
blocked  with  Russian  troops  evacuating  in  disorder; 
Kasvin  was  filled  with  them,  and  though  mostly  friendly 
in  a  general  sort  of  way  they  were  obviously  going  to  be 
a  nuisance  on  the  road. 

The  weather  at  any  rate  was  in  our  favour  ;  no  snow 
fell,  and  we  crossed  the  last  high  pass  near  Buinak, 
30  miles  from  Kasvin,  without  difficulty.  Here,  as 
on  the  Sultan  Bulaq  Pass,  the  retiring  Russians  had 
cut  a  first-rate  road  through  the  snowdrifts. 

From  Buinak  to  Menjil,  40  miles,  the  road  winds 
down  a  rather  desolate  valley,  crossing  the  streams  occa- 
sionally by  well-built  bridges,  and  finally  emerging  on  to 
the  small  open  plain  of  Menjil,  on  which  some  fine  clumps 
of  very  old  olive-trees  help  to  vary  the  monotony  of  the 

3X 


32     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

landscape.  Our  halt  for  the  night  was  arranged  for  in 
the  little  post-house  belonging  to  the  Russian  Road 
Company,  where  large  advertisement  boards  of  the 
"  Grand  Hotel  "  in  Teheran  with  *'  Cuisine  Fran9aise  " 
made  our  "  bully  stew "  taste  less  luscious  than 
usual. 

The  only  impediment  on  the  road  had  been  the  Russian 
troops,  whose  transport  consisted  chiefly  of  the  enormous 
Persian  country  carts  with  four  horses  harnessed  abreast, 
not  an  easy  vehicle  to  get  by  on  a  narrow  mountain  road. 
The  troops  themselves  were  cheerful,  and  showed  no  signs 
of  making  themselves  unpleasant  to  us.  Life  for  the 
time  being  was  very  pleasant  for  them,  and  as  all  men 
are  brothers  they  wished  it  to  be  pleasant  for  others  as 
well.  The  principles  of  freedom  and  fraternity  were 
applied  with  great  zeal  to  poultry  and  other  unconsidered 
trifles  that  lay  not  too  far  from  the  roadside,  and  the 
tedium  of  the  march  was  relieved  by  shooting  the  insula- 
tors off  the  telegraph  poles,  or  testing  marksmanship  for 
a  small  bet  on  heedless  crows.  No  formation  was  kept, 
except  occasionally  among  the  mounted  troops.  Parties 
pottered  along  in  twos  and  threes  or  larger  bunches,  and 
now  and  then  a  tired  soldier  would  beg  for  a  lift,  or  try 
to  get  one  without  begging  by  jumping  on  to  the  back  of 
one  of  the  vans,  an  athletic  feat  that  was  generally  beyond 
his  powers. 

At  the  serai,  where  we  went  with  a  special  permit  to 
draw  petrol  for  to-morrow's  journey,  we  were  surrounded 
by  a  crowd  of  soldiers,  and  enjoyed  some  rather  amusing 
and  instructive  conversation.  The  soldiers  wanted  to 
know  where  we  were  going.  I  replied,  "To  Enzeli.'* 
**  And  then  ?  "  "  That  depends  on  circumstances,  we 
want  to  help  you  who  are  our  allies."  The  invariable 
reply  to  this  was  "  We  are  not  your  allies  ;  we  have  made 
peace  with  Germany,  and  you  only  want  to  prolong  the 
war."     This  was  the  parrot-like  refrain  that  never  varied 


THE  SEA!    THE  SEA!  33 

and  had  evidently  been  carefully  taught  to  the  men  by 
some  ardent  propagandist. 

Asked  as  to  their  political  ideas,  the  general  replies 
may  be  reproduced  somewhat  as  follows  :  "  We  have  had 
a  revolution  because  we  were  ill-treated  and  oppressed. 
Now  we  are  free,  but  ignorant  and  uneducated.  We 
don't  know  how  to  rule  ourselves.  Everything  is  in 
disorder.  I  am  a  Bolshevik,  but  I  don't  know  what  Bol- 
shevism means,  as  I  cannot  read  or  write  ;  I  just  accept 
what  the  last  speaker  says.  I  want  to  be  left  alone  and 
helped  home,  and  as  the  Committee  in  Kazian  is  Bolshevik, 
I  am  too.     If  it  were  anything  else  I  would  be  that." 

Great  curiosity  was  evinced  as  to  the  real  reason  for 
our  presence  in  their  midst,  and  the  general  consensus 
of  opinion  was  that  we  were  up  to  no  good.  The  peasant 
mind  is  naturally  suspicious,  that  of  the  Russian  peasant 
especially  so,  and  the  guileless  Englishman  has  an  unfortu- 
nate reputation  in  Russia  of  being  very  cunning  ;  so  our 
party  was  regarded  with  mixed  feelings  of  suspicion  and 
dislike  tempered  with  good-natured  tolerance. 

Menjil  lies  at  the  head  of  the  fifty- mile  valley  that  runs 
down  to  the  Caspian  Sea  through  Resht,  and  the  narrow 
gap  in  the  hills,  through  which  the  Sefid  Rud,  or  White 
River — ^generally  red,  by  the  way — flows  down  to  the 
sea,  acts  as  a  funnel  for  the  north  wind  that  blows  in 
a  perpetual  hurricane  throughout  the  summer  and  has 
made  Menjil  infamous  as  an  intolerable  place  of  residence. 
Luckily  this  wind  does  not  blow  during  the  winter  months, 
or  we  should  have  had  a  miserable  time.  We  had  scant 
leisure  for  exploring  the  neighbourhood:  darkness  soon 
came  on,  and  we  were  only  too  glad  of  an  excuse  for 
turning  in  early  and  getting  a  good  night's  rest  before 
embarking  on  to-morrow's  adventures. 

The  next  day,  Sunday,  February  17th,  we  were  off 
at  dawn  in  fine  weather  for  the  last  and  most  critical 
stage  of  our  journey,  with  the  pleasant  prospect  of  cross- 

4 


34     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

ing  the  Caspian  Sea  on  the  following  morning  if  the  fates 
were  good  to  us.  But  we  were  beginning  to  realize  that  the 
fates  would  have  to  be  extraordinarily  good  to  bring  it  ofF. 

The  beautiful  70  miles  of  road  from  Menjil  to  the 
sea  have  been  described  by  every  traveller,  and  I  am 
obliged  to  add  my  modest  contribution.  Leaving  the 
post-house,  the  road  winds  downwards  with  a  gentle 
slope  for  about  IJ  miles  to  the  Menjil  Bridge,  where  the 
Sefid  Rud  is  crossed  and  the  final  descent  to  the  sea 
begins.  The  bridge  is  well  built  of  stone  and  iron, 
and  lies  in  a  sharp  V-shaped  gap  in  the  hills  where  the 
road  turns  due  north.  After  crossing  the  river  the  road 
winds  along  the  left  bank  for  the  next  40  miles,  when 
the  flat  country  is  reached.  From  here  it  diverges  slightly 
to  the  left,  reaching  Resht  at  about  the  fifty-second 
mile  and  Enzeli  at  the  seventieth. 

On  entering  the  gorge  immediately  beyond  the  Menjil 
bridge,  the  thoughts  of  the  soldier  are  inevitably  drawn 
to  the  terrible  natural  difficulties  confronting  any  army 
that  might  endeavour  to  force  this  defile  against  a  deter- 
mined enemy.  The  road  is  cut  out  of  the  rock  in  many 
places  ;  the  cliffs  tower  above  on  the  left,  while  on  the 
right  there  is  a  sheer  drop  to  the  roaring  torrent  of 
the  Sefid  Rud,  impassable  at  all  times  of  the  year. 
The  rocky  spurs  and  sharp  ravines  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river  give  excellent  cover  to  an  enemy  for 
sniping  the  troops  on  the  read,  and  any  attempt  to 
advance  would  obviously  entail  a  parallel  movement 
on  both  sides  of  the  river. 

So  far,  although  the  traveller  feels  most  distinctly 
that  he  has  left  Persia  behind  and  has  entered  an  entirely 
new  country,  the  real  forest  has  not  begun.  The  lower 
hills  are  still  barren  but  not  entirely  devoid  of  trees; 
large  groves  of  olives  line  the  road  and  fill  all  the  hollows 
on  the  mountain  side,  while  higher  up  a  glimpse  can  be 
caught  of  the  upper  forests  of  pine  and  oak. 


THE  SEA!      THE  SEA!  35 

The  real  forest  is  not  entered  till  the  twentieth  mile 
from  Menjil,  where  the  Russian  toll-gate  of  Nagober  is 
passed  and  the  road  plunges  into  thick  woods  with  dense 
undergrowth.  Here  we  feel  that  we  have  not  only  left 
Persia  but  Asia  behind,  when  we  stop  for  repairs  beside 
a  mossy  bank  on  which  j)rimroses  and  cyclamen  are  just 
coming  out,  and  farther  down  the  road  we  find  banks  of 
violets  and  snowdrops.  The  trees  are  not  in  leaf,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  evergreens,  and  it  is  hard  to  identify 
them  in  a  rapid  glance  from  a  motor-car,  but  chestnut 
and  a  tree  resembling  a  beech  are  the  most  noticeable, 
while  the  undergrowth  is  chiefly  composed  of  box. 

At  Imamzadeh  Hashim,  about  40  miles  from  Menjil, 
the  hills  abruptly  cease,  and  from  here  on  to  Enzeli  the 
road  runs  on  the  level,  at  first  through  alternate  forests 
and  rice-fields  and  later,  as  Enzeli  is  approached,  through 
pasture  land  and  sand  dunes. 

It  was  hardly  to  be  hoped  for  that  we  should  be  allowed 
by  the  fierce  Kuchik  Khan,  after  all  his  threats,  to  pass 
through  the  Menjil  defile  unopposed,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  arrange  the  convoy  so  that  at  the  first  sign  of  opposi- 
tion all  possible  fire  should  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  enemy. 
Our  only  chance  would  lie  in  acting  with  determination 
and  rapidity.  But  at  the  same  time  we  were  handi- 
capped by  having  to  leave  the  firing  of  the  first  shot  to 
the  Jangalis,  as  until  that  shot  was  fired  it  might  be 
possible  to  bluff  our  way  through.  And  bluffing  is  far 
better  than  fighting  when  you  have  very  little  to  fight 
with. 

The  armoured  car  under  Lieutenant  Singer  led  the 
way.  Captain  Hooper  with  the  Lewis-gun  was  well  up  in 
front,  and  each  driver  had  his  rifle  and  a  hundred  rounds 
ready  to  his  hand.  Frequent  halts  were  made  to  ensure 
the  cars  being  all  kept  together. 

Through  the  forest  belt  we  encountered  no  signs  of 
opposition   at  all,  but   as  we   neared  Resht  we  passed 


36     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

here  and  there  fierce-looking  and  heavily- armed  warriors. 
With  successive  bandoliers  of  cartridges  arranged  round 
their  bodies  so  as  to  form  a  very  showy  waistcoat,  Mauser 
pistol  on  waistbelt  and  rifle  in  hand,  these  soldiers  really 
looked  as  if  they  meant  business.  But  Persia  is  a  land 
where  most  things  are  done  by  "  looks,"  and  any  attempt 
to  ensure  military  success  by  other  means  need  not  be 
tried  till  that  method  has  failed. 

At  Resht  we  halted  for  half  an  hour  to  meet  on  the 
roadside  the  British  Consul,  Mr.  Maclaren,  and  his  Russian 
confrere,  M.  Grigorievitch.  The  former,  together  with 
Mr.  Oakshot,  of  the  Imperial  Bank  of  Persia,  bravely 
keeps  the  British  flag  flying  under  most  adverse  circum- 
stances. After  Kuchik  Khan's  recent  announcement 
of  his  feeling  towards  the  British,  it  required  some  nerve 
to  continue  to  reside  in  the  Jangali  capital.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  both  were  shortly  afterwards  taken  prisoners, 
and  suffered  very  much  at  the  hands  of  the  Gilanis  before 
effecting  their  escape. 

After  a  short  and  useful  conversation  with  them  the 
cars  again  moved  off,  passing  through  Resht  undaunted 
by  more  scowls  from  more  desperadoes,  and  covering 
the  remaining  20  miles  to  Enzeli  in  good  time  and 
without  incident,  puzzling  our  brains  to  guess  why  after 
such  fierce  threats  we  had  been  allowed  to  come  through 
unscathed. 

It  was  about  an  hour  before  sunset  that  the  proximity 
of  the  sea  was  announced  by  the  sand  dunes,  a  moment 
later — Ba\a(T(ra  !  QaXaacra  ! — the  blue  waters  of  the 
Caspian  became  visible  in  the  distance,  and  we  were 
soon  in  the  outskirts  of  the  Kazian  settlement. 

Now  we  had  to  see  how  the  Bolsheviks  and  other  brands 
of  revolutionaries  would  receive  us.  Curiosity  was  much 
more  evident  than  hostility,  in  fact  there  never  was  much 
of  the  latter  except  from  the  Bolshevik  officials  (numerous 
enough)   and  a  small  proportion  of  really  anti-British 


THE  SEA!      THE  SEA!  37 

agitators.  The  attitude  would  therefore  be  as  dictated 
by  the  officials,  and  it  remained  to  be  seen  what  their 
attitude  would  be.  There  were  at  this  time  about  2,000 
Russian  disbanded  troops  in  the  town,  and  as  we  drew  up 
in  front  of  the  Persian  Customs  House  the  whole  2,000 
flocked  round,  eager  with  curiosity  and  betraying  no  sign 
of  hostility. 

In  Persia  the  Customs  are  entirely  run  by  Belgian 
officials,  and  we  were  given  a  most  hearty  welcome  by 
M.  Hunin,  who,  with  his  wife  and  children,  occupies  the 
spacious  building  here  provided  for  the  head  of  the 
Customs. 

The  arrangements  which  had  been  made  for  our 
reception  were  as  follows.  I  was  to  have  the  honour  of 
living  with  the  Hunins,  the  cars  were  to  be  parked  inside 
the  Customs  yard,  the  drivers  were  to  be  accommodated 
in  a  Customs  shed  close  by,  and  the  officers  in  a  very  com- 
fortable building  in  the  Fishery  Depot  about  a  mile  away. 

More  unsuitable  arrangements  could  not  be  imagined. 
Hitherto  at  every  halt  we  had  all  lived  together  with  our 
cars  in  our  midst,  officers  and  men  sharing  the  same 
quarters  and  the  same  bully-beef  stew  prepared  by  our 
indefatigable  and  cheery  cook.  Private  Pike  of  the  A.S.C. 
Under  such  circumstances,  whatever  happened  we  could 
give  a  good  account  of  ourselves,  but  scattered  all  over 
Kazian  as  we  now  were  we  could  hardly  do  our  best 
in  the  event  of  a  row. 

But  at  this  late  hour  to  set  out,  followed  by  a  gaping 
crowd  of  Bolsheviks,  to  make  other  arrangements  was 
not  to  be  thought  of,  and  I  had  to  accept  matters  as  they 
were  and  take  certain  measures  to  bring  things  together 
in  the  event  of  a  crisis.  The  only  thing  that  I  had  absolutely 
to  decline  was  the  extremely  kind  personal  invitation  for 
myself,  and  I  threw  in  my  lot  with  the  other  officers  in 
the  Fishery  Depot.  It  was  sad  to  think  that  any  mind 
could  conceive   arrangements   based  solely    on   comfort, 


38     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

the  last  thing  we  desired.  All  we  wanted  was  safety  and 
strength. 

I  could  not,  however,  be  so  churlish  as  to  refuse 
the  warm  invitation  for  myself  and  a  Staff  Officer  to  dine 
with  the  Hunins,  which  was  therefore  duly  accepted. 

The  cars  were  soon  stowed  away  inside  the  courtyard, 
but  as  many  of  the  crowd  as  could  squeeze  in  were  inside 
as  well. 

How  to  get  them  out  ? 

The  conversational  method  appeared  to  be  the  easiest, 
so  Captain  Saunders  and  myself  commenced  haranguing 
the  men,  who  were  deeply  interested  in  our  remarks  and 
flocked  around  to  listen.  The  topics  were  simple.  We 
talked  of  the  latest  war  news,  we  agreed  that  liberty  was 
a  fine  thing  and  admitted  that  all  men  were  comrades  ; 
in  the  British  Army,  at  any  rate,  officers  and  men  had 
always  regarded  each  other  as  comrades. 

On  their  side  questions  were  asked  as  to  uniform  ; 
was  the  Staff  badge  worn  on  his  cap  by  Captain  Saunders 
(a  crown  surmounted  by  a  lion)  meant  to  be  the  badge  of 
the  Persian  lion  ?  As  to  the  war,  when  would  it  end  ? 
For  Russia  it  had  already  done  so.  Thus  pleasantly 
conversing  we  gradually  approached  the  door,  passed 
through  the  archway  and  into  the  open  space,  the  crowd 
following  us  as  if  I  was  the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin.  Then, 
during  a  continuance  of  the  discussion,  the  doors  were 
quietly  closed  and  a  sentry  posted. 

It  was  now  possible  to  move  down  to  the  wharves  and 
see  what  ships  would  suit  us,  but  we  were  not  able  to  do 
more  than  make  a  note  of  their  names  and  a  rough  estimate 
of  capacity,  as  we  were  followed  at  every  step  by  a  gigantic 
crowd  that  listened  to  every  word  and  rather  hampered 
our  movements.  The  first  thing  to  be  done,  therefore, 
was  to  shake  off  the  crowd,  which  we  eventually  succeeded 
in  doing,  getting  our  men  into  their  shed  and  installing 
ourselves   in   the   Fisheries    house.    Here    we   occupied 


THE  SEA!     THE  SEA!  89 

ourselves  with  toilet  arrangements,  during  which  a  crowd, 
hostile  this  time,  assembled  in  the  open  space  before  the 
house  and  began  to  look  rather  ugly.  Before,  however, 
we  could  take  steps  to  deal  with  these  people  some  one  in 
authority  evidently  gave  the  word  "  not  yet,"  and  the 
mob  gradually  dispersed. 

After  devising  secret  methods  of  ascertaining  shipping 
facilities,  and  setting  on  foot  inquiries  regarding  the 
local  situation,  we  prepared  to  set  forth  for  our  most 
ill-timed  dinner-party.  At  this  moment  an  unkempt 
individual  appeared  with  an  important-looking  note  from 
the  "  Revolutionary  District  Soviet.  The  Military  Revolu- 
tionary Committee  of  the  East  Persian  [sic]  Circle  of  the 
Caucasus  Front."  The  note  that  followed  this  grandiose 
and  unabbreviated  title  was  curtly  worded  as  follows  : 
"  The  Committee  desire  your  attendance  at  an  extra- 
ordinary meeting  of  the  Committee  to  explain  the  arrival 
of  the  motor-cars  and  the  mission."  No  time  was 
mentioned,  and  it  was  obvious  that  if  I  had  dinner  first 
I  should  have  time  to  think.  So  we  decided  just  to  carry 
on  with  the  dinner  and  see  what  would  happen. 

The  dinner  was  certainly  excellent,  and  we  were  doing 
thorough  justice  to  it  when  the  sound  of  heavy  boots  was 
heard  in  the  hall  outside  and  the  Persian  servant  hurried 
in  in  great  agitation  to  announce  that  the  Revolutionary 
Committee  had  arrived  in  the  house,  demanding  to  see 
the  British  General.  I  reassured  my  hostess,  who  was 
horror-stricken  at  the  invasion,  and  left  the  roon  at  once 
to  meet  the  visitors,  of  whom  I  expected  at  least  half 
a  dozen.  As  I  entered  the  sitting-room  I  was  rather 
surprised  to  find  only  two  representatives.  Comrade 
Cheliapin,  formerly  a  clerk  in  a  shipping  office  and  now 
President  of  the  Enzeli  Bolshevik  Committee,  and  a 
swarthy  sailor  in  uniform. 

I  at  once  shook  hands  warmly  and  begged  them  to  be 
seated,    when   the   following   conversation   took   place: 


40     THE   ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

**  May  I  ask  what  I  can  do  for  you  ?  '* 

"  We  sent  you  a  note  that  you  were  to  attend  a 
Committee  meeting  to  explain  your  arrival  here  and  to 
answer  other  questions.     Did  you  not  get  the  note  ?  " 

*'  I  got  the  note,  but  as  it  contained  no  mention  of 
time  I  was  waiting  for  a  more  precise  invitation." 

**  We  desire  you  to  come  with  us  now  and  make  the 
necessary  explanations  to  the  Committee  who  are  waiting 
for  you." 

"  The  Committee  must  be  very  tired,  as  I  am,  after 
the  day's  work,  and  I  suggest  that  if  you  could  assemble 
at  11  a.m.  to-morrow  we  could  talk  over  all  matters 
pleasantly  and  at  length.  Meantime  I  may  tell  you 
briefly  that  we  are  animated  only  by  feelings  of 
friendship  for  Russia,  and  have  no  ideas  of  setting  up 
any  counter-revolutionary  movement." 

After  this  I  expressed  my  surprise  and  pain  at  their 
general  attitude.  I  had  expected  a  warm  greeting  from 
them,  and  felt  sure  that  to-morrow  I  could  at  least  count 
on  their  fullest  assistance  in  all  matters.  I  was  only  too 
anxious  to  explain,  as  I  knew  that  their  ideas  and  mine 
would  probably  coincide  on  all  points.  I  thanked  them 
very  warmly  for  taking  the  trouble  to  come  and  see  me, 
and  after  smoking  a  cigarette  and  exchanging  further 
complimentary  remarks  (not  quite  an  exchange,  as  the 
compliments  were  mostly  on  my  side)  we  shook  hands 
once  more  and  parted  with  the  usual  Russian  expressions 
of  politeness. 

I  was  anxious  to  defer  any  meeting  with  the  Committee 
till  we  had  learnt  something  of  local  conditions,  and  until 
I  had  heard  the  result  of  the  inquiries  now  on  foot  as 
to  shipping  facilities.  It  was  very  necessary  for  me  to 
learn  the  situation  before  entering  into  any  discussion. 
With  full  knowledge  of  conditions  on  their  side,  and 
complete  ignorance  on  mine,  any  controversy  would  be 
a  very  one-sided  affair. 


I 


THE  SEA!      THE  SEA!  41 

I  was  now  able  to  return  to  the  dining-room  and  relieve 
the  anxiety  of  Madame  Hunin,  who  had  expected  to  see 
me  dragged  ofiE  to  instant  execution.  Dinner  was  soon 
finished,  and  after  an  excellent  cigar  we  made  our 
apologies  and  withdrew.  The  night  was  young  and  there 
was  a  good  deal  to  be  thought  of  before  turning  in 
to  rest. 

First  of  all  the  shipping  reports  came  in.  Two  ships 
were  available  and  willing  ;  but  no  ships  were  privately 
owned,  all  were  "  nationalized  "  and  entirely  in  the  con- 
trol of  the  Bolshevik  Government.  Any  idea  therefore 
of  getting  on  board  in  the  dark  and  making  a  run  for  it 
was  out  of  the  question.  Next  as  to  accommodation  on 
board.  The  ordinary  steamer  would  take  from  100  to 
500  men,  but  none  could  take  more  than  ten  cars.  There- 
fore if  we  endeavoured  to  slip  away  in  one  steamer  we 
should  have  to  leave  thirty-one  cars  behind,  a  fact  which 
alone  sufficed  to  negative  any  scheme  of  stealthy 
departure. 

Other  items  of  intelligence  were  also  not  very 
encouraging,  and  it  appeared  likely  that  we  should  be 
faced  with  the  problem  of  being  unable  to  go  forward 
and  equally  unable  to  go  back. 

Our  house  was  watched  from  every  corner  by  sentries 
concealed,  to  stop  or  give  notice  of  any  suspicious  move- 
ments on  our  part.  These  sentries  were  posted  each 
night  during  our  stay  in  Enzeli. 

To-morrow  we  would  see  what  the  day  would  bring 
forth,  and  I  had  reasonable  hopes  that  the  Committee 
would  fall  in  with  our  ideas.  I  still  feel  certain  that 
they  would  have  done  so  if  left  to  themselves,  but 
with  Kuchik  Khan's  emissaries  at  their  elbows,  and 
German  agents  in  their  midst,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
they  were  led  into  a  hostile  attitude. 

Rain  had  begun  last  night,  and  we  woke  on  February 
18th  to  find  a  dull,  drizzly  morning,  with  the  landscape 


42     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

entirely  enveloped  in  mist.  We  were  soon  astir  and 
about  our  various  tasks.  Our  movements  in  the  town 
still  attracted  some  attention,  and  apart  from  the  curious 
crowd  there  was  of  course  always  a  reporter  from  the 
Committee  dogging  our  footsteps.  It  was  therefore 
difficult  to  accomplish  much  by  direct  inquiry,  and  we 
had  to  rely  chiefly  on  secret  agents,  of  whom  we  had  one 
or  two  who  were  sincerely  acting  on  our  behalf,  but 
whose  reports  were  frequently  incorrect  or  exaggerated. 

At  11  a.m.  Captain  Saunders  and  myself  duly  presented 
ourselves  at  the  small  building  where  the  Committee 
held  its  meetings.  Happy  soldiers  in  full  enjoyment  of 
the  delights  of  freedom  lounged  round  the  entrance.  The 
delights  of  freedom  were  chiefly  indicated  by  the  bestowal 
of  silly  smiles  instead  of  salutes,  the  neglect  of  ablutions, 
unbuttoned  uniforms  and  dirty  belts  and  rifles.  Passing 
up  the  wooden  steps  we  entered  a  crowded  ante-chamber, 
where  more  soldiers  and  sailors  smoked  and  talked  and 
indolently  regarded  the  new-comers.  In  a  short  time  the 
door  of  the  inner  room  opened  and  Comrade  Cheliapin 
advanced  with  outstretched  hand  and  an  official  frown 
that  fitted  the  seriousness  of  the  occasion.  Hands  were 
solemnly  shaken  in  token  of  equality,  and  our  leader 
ushered  us  into  the  adjoining  room,  where  we  found 
ourselves  in  the  presence  of  the  redoubtable  Committee. 

The  twelve  individuals  composing  the  Committee 
were  seated  at  a  long  table  that  almost  filled  the  room, 
and  each  had  before  him  in  the  most  correct  manner 
paper,  pens  and  ink,  to  show  that  he  could  write  if  called 
upon  to  do  so.  There  was  no  general  rising  on  our  entry 
into  the  room,  but  each  rose  or  half  rose  as  we  exchanged 
the  usual  hand-grips,  and  on  the  whole  we  received 
a  welcome  that  showed  a  general  desire  to  be  polite 
while  remaining  severely  formal.  The  members  were 
all  young  men,  mostly  soldiers  and  sailors  in  uniform, 
and  those  who  wore  tunics  buttoning  up  to  the  neck 


THE  SEA!     THE  SEA!  48 

left  the  collars  undone,  as  a  further  sign  of  their  recently 
won  freedom.  Throughout  the  entire  period  of  my 
relations  with  revolutionaries  I  noticed  this  distinguishing 
sign  of  the  unbuttoned  collar  :  To  look  the  part  of  a 
revolutionary,  grow  your  hair  long,  refrain  from  brushing 
it  and  leave  your  collar  undone,  or  if  in  mufti  wear  an 
open  turned-down  collar  cut  as  low  as  a  lady's  dinner 
frock,  and  the  disguise  is  complete. 

The  flouting  of  the  greybeard  is  also  a  revolutionary 
sign.  The  absence  of  the  men  of  experience  from  among 
revolutionary  officials  leads  to  many  false  moves  that 
wiser  heads  would  have  avoided  ;  but  youth  will  have  its 
fling,  and  in  all  ages  and  in  all  civilizations  there  is  always 
a  permanent  undercurrent  of  revolution  on  the  part  of  the 
young  men  who  know  everything,  against  the  older  men 
who  are  considered  out-of-date  and  incapable  of  under- 
standing their  brilliant  schemes  of  reform.  But  it  is 
good  to  be  young,  and  the  effervescence  of  youth  is 
possibly  of  some  small  value  in  the  general  scheme 
of  life. 

I  was  not  able  to  say  all  this  to  the  Enzeli  Com- 
mittee, though  I  should  have  liked  to  have  done  so. 
Time  pressed  and  I  was  anxious  to  get  through  with 
the  business. 

It  was  known  in  the  town  that  Kuchik  Khan's 
Persian  Committee  were  urging  the  Russian  Committee  to 
arrest  us,  while  the  Bolsheviks  were  anxious  to  throw  the 
onus  on  the  Persians.  There  was  no  reason  why  either  side 
should  hesitate,  but  there  is  a  good  deal  of  prestige  about 
the  British  flag,  and  neither  party  so  far  cared  to  put  our 
strength  to  the  test.  There  was  moreover  the  armoured 
car,  which  looked  as  if  it  would  account  for  a  good  many 
of  the  attackers  if  an  attempt  was  made  to  take  it.  Still, 
there  was  the  prospect  of  our  own  arrest,  as  Captain 
Saunders  and  myself  were  entirely  in  their  hands,  and  to 
make  us  realize  the  serious  nature  of  our  predicament  an 


44     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

armed  guard  surrounded  our  chairs.  This  guard  soon 
grew  tired,  and  when  they  concluded  that  their  presence 
was  not  producing  any  great  impression  on  us,  they  sat 
down  on  benches  round  the  room  and  made  themselves 
comfortable. 

We  were  accommodated  with  seats  at  the  table,  and 
the  discussion  opened  with  a  short  speech  by  Cheliapin, 
in  which  he  informed  the  Committee  that  the  English 
General  had  been  invited  to  attend  this  meeting  to  explain 
the  reason  of  his  sudden  descent  into  their  midst,  and  to 
answer  questions  generally  as  to  the  future  intentions  of 
his  party. 

In  reply  I  stated  briefly  that  I  was  astonished  at 
their  attitude,  that  we  had  come  solely  to  help  them 
and  were  pained  at  the  very  poor  welcome  we  had 
received. 

It  was  necessary  for  me  to  be  very  careful  in  my  replies 
to  the  volley  of  questions  that  now  ensued,  each  member 
determined  to  justify  his  existence  by  taking  a  part  in 
the  cross-examination.  My  desire  was  naturally  to  adhere 
strictly  to  the  truth,  not  always  an  easy  task  when  one 
is  in  possession  of  State  secrets,  and  very  difficult  in  this 
case  where  the  entire  object  of  the  mission  had  been 
kept  a  very  close  secret,  and  where  it  would  be  unwise  to 
avow  all  the  details  of  our  plans  before  a  hostile  assembly 
such  as  that  before  which  we  were  undergoing  cross- 
examination. 

This  difficulty  was  at  once  removed  by  the  kind  Presi- 
dent, who  informed  me  that  he  knew  all  about  our  plans 
for  going  to  Tiflis  and  helping  the  Georgians  and  Armenians 
to  continue  the  fight.  He  was  too  anxious  to  show  me 
how  hopeless  our  case  was  when  he  knew  so  much,  but  he 
could  have  used  his  knowledge  as  a  much  better  weapon 
had  he  waited  till  he  had  succeeded  in  getting  false  replies 
from  me  and  then  produced  his  bombshell. 

It  appears  that  the  Bolsheviks  had  full  information 


THE  SEA!      THE  SEA!  45 

from  the  Tiflis  side  of  the  objects  of  the  mission,  and  of 
the  date  of  our  probable  arrival  at  Enzeli,  and  they  had 
peremptory  orders  (at  German  instigation)  to  stop  us  at 
all  costs. 

The  result  of  the  meeting  may  be  summed  up  as 
follows:  The  Committee  stated  that  Russia  was  no 
longer  our  Ally.  Russia  had  made  peace  with  the 
Germans,  Turks  and  Austrians,  and  among  all  nations 
mistrusted  only  Great  Britain,  as  a  symbol  of  Imperialism, 
and  the  Tiflis  people  whom  we  proposed  to  help,  as  being 
anti-Bolshevik. 

At  Enzeli  they  possessed  the  telegraph  and  telephone 
line,  the  wireless  apparatus  and  the  petrol  supply.  All 
shipping  was  in  their  hands,  and  a  gunboat  lay  ready  to 
open  fire  on  any  ship  endeavouring  to  leave  the  port 
without  their  permission.  They  forbade  any  endeavour 
on  our  part  to  reach  Baku.  Baku  was  under  the  Bol- 
shevik Government,  and  had  already  been  informed  of 
our  arrival  by  wireless,  and  had  replied  that  the  party  was 
to  be  stopped  at  all  costs.  For  Russia  the  war  was  over, 
and  they  objected  to  a  mission  whose  avowed  intention 
was  to  prolong  the  war. 

On  my  side  I  protested  that  our  only  object  was  to 
help  Russia,  without  taking  notice  of  political  parties, 
that  I  should  in  spite  of  their  threats  carry  on  with 
arrangements  to  proceed  to  Baku,  that  we  had  sufficient 
machine-guns  to  enable  us  to  overcome  any  resistance, 
and  that  we  did  not  recognize  the  right  of  the  Bolshevik 
Government  to  imp*^'^'^  our  movements. 

I  expected  that  the  announcement  of  this  determina- 
tion would  lead  to  our  arrest,  but  while  some  members 
were  doubtless  in  favour  of  this,  there  was  lack  of  unani- 
mity, of  which  I  took  advantage,  and  rising  with  the 
usual  expressions  of  leave-taking  Captain  Saunders  and 
myself  walked  out  of  the  room  without  interference. 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in  feeling  our  way  as 


46     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

regards  shipping  facilities  and  calculating  chances.  A 
visit  to  the  wharf  left  us  rather  hopeless.  All  steamers 
were  strongly  guarded,  and  out  in  the  stream  lay 
the  vicious-looking  gunboat  with  guns  prepared  for 
action. 

With  the  Bolsheviks  and  Jangalis  around  us,  Bolsheviks 
ahead  of  us  and  Kuchik  Khan  waiting  for  us  on  the  road 
behind,  it  was  not  easy  to  see  one's  way  through,  either 
forward  or  backward.  One  thing  only  was  certain, 
that  the  longer  we  delayed  the  smaller  would  be  our 
chances  of  escape.  Yet  I  felt  it  necessary  to  hold  on  for 
at  least  forty-eight  hours  in  the  hopes  of  something 
turning  up.  What  I  really  looked  for  was  some  sign  of 
assistance  from  our  friends  on  the  other  shore,  some 
indication  that  if  we  got  as  far  as  Baku  we  might  count 
on  at  least  a  few  helpers.  There  were  people  over  there 
who  were  undoubtedly  looking  forward  to  our  arrival — 
the  Armenians  especially — and  surely  they  would  be 
sending  emissaries  to  suggest  some  plan  and  help  us 
through. 

But  the  hours  passed  by  and  there  were  no  signs  of 
any  such  helpers,  and  it  was  obviously  useless  to  hope 
for  anything  from  this  source.  My  later  experience 
has  taught  me  that  these  people  are  glad  enough  to  ask 
for  help,  but  having  asked  they  sit  with  folded  hands, 
and  when  help  arrives  they  welcome  you  warmly  and  say, 
"  Now  we  give  you  a  free  hand,  just  carry  on  and  we 
will  sit  and  watch  how  well  you  H  .  it !  "  This  is  exactly 
what  happened  when  we  eventually  reached  Baku  about 
six  months  later. 

I  sat  up  most  of  the  night  weighing  the  intelligence 
that  had  been  collected  during  the  day,  and  balancing 
the  pros  and  cons  of  each  possible  solution. 

We  might  face  the  situation,  seize  a  steamer  and  risk 
the  gunboat.  I  knew  a  method  that  seldom  fails  of 
stopping  the  fire  of  the  latter.    I  considered  that  there 


^ 


THE  SEA!      THE  SEA!  47 

was  almost  a  sufficient  prospect  of  success  in  this  scheme 
to  justify  its  attempt,  but  it  was  negatived  by  the  fact 
that  as  the  steamer  could  only  take  at  the  most  ten  cars, 
thirty-one  would  have  to  be  left  behind  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Bolsheviks,  and  my  party  would  receive 
a  warm  reception  from  the  Bolsheviks  of  Baku,  informed 
by  wireless  of  our  impending  arrival.  Finally,  at  the 
very  best,  we  should  be  landed  in  the  Caucasus,  leaving 
the  road  by  which  we  hoped  the  remainder  of  the  party 
would  arrive  in  the  hands  of  a  very  irritated  enemy, 
who  would  see  to  it  that  no  further  parties  got  through. 
Under  such  circumstances  our  position  in  Baku  or  Tiflis 
would  be  ridiculous. 

Colonel  Pike  was  at  Tiflis  as  Military  Agent  and  was 
anxiously  awaiting  our  arrival,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  expect  that  he  could  do  anything  to  help  us,  his  own 
position  being  fairly  desperate  until  we  could  get  through 
to  him.  Captain  Goldsmith  would  also  now  be  with  him, 
but  was  out  of  touch  with  us,  owing  to  the  impossibility 
of  communication. 

The  next  plan  to  consider  was  the  possibility  of  our 
remaining  in  Enzeli,  establishing  friendly  relations  with 
the  local  Government  and  wheedling  them  into  a  better 
attitude.  The  risks  of  this  plan  were  too  great.  The 
combined  hostility  of  the  Persians  and  the  Bolsheviks 
would  certainly  burst  into  flame,  and  one  or  other  would 
at  last  pluck  up  the  courage  to  put  our  strength  to  the 
test,  and  find  that  the  strength  was  all  weakness.  More- 
over, the  rumour  that  we  had  large  stores  of  gold  with 
us  made  such  an  effort  all  the  more  tempting. 

Comrade  Cheliapin  himself  proposed  another  plan, 
that  we  should  officially  recognize  in  writing  the  Bolshevik 
Government  (our  non-recognition  being  the  chief  cause 
of  their  hostility)  and  proceed  to  Baku  under  Bolshevik 
auspices,  leaving  our  further  movements  to  be  directed 
by   the    Bolsheviks.      This   meant,    in    fact,    becoming 


48     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Bolsheviks.  He  offered  to  wire  to  Baku  in  these  terms, 
but  did  not  anticipate  agreement. 

I  had  no  particular  objection  to  becoming  a  Bolshevik, 
but  to  take  up  the  Bolshevik  programme  of  non-resistance 
to  the  invader  would  be  rather  far  away  from  my  orders. 
Cheliapin  also  suggested  that  the  Tiflis  business  was  a 
played-out  game,  and  if  we  threw  in  our  lot  with  the 
Bolsheviks  we  would  be  much  more  useful  in  the  Moscow 
direction.     And  he  said  all  this  without  a  smile  ! 

The  upshot  of  my  midnight  deliberations  was  a  decision 
to  get  out  of  Enzeli  while  there  was  time,  run  the  gauntlet 
of  Kuchik  Khan  on  the  Resht  road  and  get  back  to  Persia, 
call  up  my  second  party  and  watch  for  a  favourable 
opportunity  to  renew  the  attempt. 

There  is  a  telephone  line  all  along  the  road  from  Enzeli, 
with  Persian  operators,  and  I  could  hardly  hope  to  get 
through  to  Menjil  without  my  movement  being  notified, 
but  we  should  just  have  to  take  our  chance  of  that. 

In  accordance  with  this  decision  I  sent  a  message  to 
the  Revolutionary  Committee  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  19th,  asking  them  to  assemble  at  11  a.m.  and  to 
allow  me  to  address  certain  remarks  to  them. 

At  the  appointed  hour  I  arrived  at  the  Committee 
room  with  Captain  Saunders,  and  we  were  ushered  in  with 
the  same  ceremony  as  before.  The  only  difference  on 
this  occasion  was  that  the  smiles  were  now  frowns,  and 
the  intimidating  guard  was  largely  increased  in  numbers 
and  looked  most  impressive. 

I  opened  the  discussion  by  stating  that  I  wished  to 
know  finally  whether  the  Committee  had  changed  their 
minds  and  were  willing  to  give  us  all  the  assistance  in 
their  power,  or  whether  they  adhered  to  their  former 
ill-advised  decision  to  thwart  us.  The  answer  was  a 
quite  unanimous  one  in  favour  of  the  latter  proposition. 

I  then  asked  to  be  allowed  to  speak  to  Cheliapin  alone, 
which  request  being  granted  I  withdrew  with  him  into  a 


THE  SEA!     THE  SEA!  49 

separate  apartment,  where  we  were  as  much  alone  as 
revolutionaries  are  ever  allowed  to  be.  *'  Trust  no  one  '* 
is  the  sound  motto  of  all  revolutions. 

I  informed  him  that  I  regretted  I  was  quite  unable 
to  accept  the  Bolshevik  proposition,  that  I  was  undesirous 
of  bloodshed,  which  would  be  the  natural  result  of  any 
effort  on  his  part  to  thwart  our  forward  movement,  that 
I  was  quite  convinced  by  his  eloquence,  and  consequently 
decided  to  withdraw  my  party.  I  congratulated  him 
warmly  on  the  very  admirable  manner  in  which  his 
government  of  the  town  was  conducted,  and  made  him 
feel  that  I  regarded  him  as  a  peer  among  men.  I  then 
begged  for  and  got  a  signed  order  for  all  the  petrol  I 
required  and,  after  requesting  the  Committee  to  keep 
my  intended  departure  a  secret,  I  withdrew  from  the 
assembly. 

In  paying  such  compliments  as  I  did  to  Comrade 
Cheliapin,  I  was  not  altogether  romancing.  I  could 
sympathize  with  the  difficulty  of  his  position,  the  endeavour 
to  carry  on  the  business  of  government  with  no  experience 
and  little  education,  and  I  wish  to  record  here  the  fact 
that  I  consider  he  did  extremely  well  in  maintaining  a 
semblance  of  law  and  order  amid  the  chaos  of  a  revolution. 
Anyway,  I  shall  always  be  grateful  to  him  for  the  petrol. 

In  spite  of  my  request  for  secrecy  the  news  of  our 
intended  departure  was  beginning  to  leak  out,  as  of 
course  I  knew  it  would,  and  it  would  be  a  very  good  thing 
to  get  through  Resht  before  Kuchik  Khan  had  time  to 
digest  and  act  upon  the  telephone  message  he  was  probably 
now  receiving.  I  accordingly  gave  orders  for  a  very  early 
start  on  the  morrow,  and  after  an  excellent  meal  at  which 
bully  beef  was  quite  put  in  the  shade  by  fresh  fish  and 
caviare,  we  turned  in  for  the  night. 


CHAPTER    IV 
WE  FALL  BACK  TO   HAMADAN 

ALL  people  are  apt  to  change  their  minds,  revolu- 
tionaries especially.  The  night  of  February  19th 
was  therefore  a  very  anxious  one,  as,  although  Cheliapin 
had  agreed  to  our  departure  and  supplied  the  petrol, 
there  would  be  many  who  would  think  it  a  pity  to  let 
the  Englishmen  get  away  with  all  those  bags  of  gold  they 
had,  and  the  amount  of  gold  had  doubtless  been  greatly 
exaggerated.     Hence  I  decided  on  a  very  early  start. 

Long  before  dawn  on  February  20th  the  cars  were 
quietly  got  out  and  loaded  up,  and  we  were  soon  on  the 
move ;  when  daylight  came  we  were  already  some  miles 
on  the  road  to  Menjil  and  ready  for  the  second  time  to 
run  the  gauntlet  through  the  Jangali  country.  The 
day  was  dull  and  rainy,  and  the  cheerless  weather  corre- 
sponded to  our  mood,  which  without  being  despondent 
was  certainly  as  cheerless  as  the  sky.  It  was  well  to 
hope  for  a  renewal  of  opportunity  and  a  prospect  of 
later  success,  but  nothing  could  compensate  for  the  fact 
that  we  had  entirely  failed  to  carry  out  the  object  with 
which  we  had  set  forth,  and  were  turning  back  in  our 
tracks. 

To-day  a  conflict  with  the  Jangalis  appeared  certain ; 
it  was  not  to  be  conceived  that  they  would  let  us  return 
through  their  country  carrying  that  precious  load  of 
gold   and  silver,    and   we   were   prepared   to   encounter 

50 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  51 

opposition  as  we  passed  through  Resht.  But  again  no 
attempt  was  made,  the  scowls  were  fiercer  and  an 
occasional  warrior  significantly  tapped  the  butt  of  his 
Mauser  pistol,  but  we  were  not  fired  on. 

We  had  got  accustomed  to  the  playful  Russian  habit 
of  firing  at  anything  along  the  road,  and  keeping  up  a 
cheerful  fusillade  most  of  the  night,  as  this  had  been  the 
usual  state  of  affairs  ever  since  our  arrival  at  Hamadan  ; 
but  it  made  it  very  hard  for  us  to  guess  whether  the  sounds 
of  firing  we  now  heard  ahead  of  us  meant  just  the  usual 
insulator  and  crow  shooting,  or  whether  business  was 
really  going  to  begin. 

A  great  deal  depended  on  the  cars,  which  had  now  run 
some  700  miles  from  Baghdad  over  poor  roads  and  without 
proper  overhauling  ;  however,  they  behaved  splendidly 
and  there  were  no  serious  breakdowns.  A  three  hours' 
halt  for  repairs,  such  as  we  often  had  to  endure  later, 
would  have  brought  about  a  most  uncomfortable  situation 
in  the  forest  country. 

Menjil  was  reached  at  5.30  p.m.,  and  we  rested  again 
in  the  post-house  with  the  tempting  advertisements. 

At  6  a.m.  on  February  21st  we  started  for  Kasvin, 
but  it  was  going  to  be  a  day  of  misfortune,  and  we  only 
reached  the  town  on  the  following  day.  The  cars  were 
getting  tired,  and  breakdowns  were  frequent.  A  halt 
of  two  hours  was  necessary  before  we  were  out  of  sight 
of  the  village :  this  considerably  shortened  our  day, 
but  we  trusted  with  luck  to  make  up  time  and  did  very 
well  till  midday,  when  a  second  halt  of  three  and  a  half 
hours  removed  all  hope  of  reaching  Kasvin  that  day. 

The  weather  was  fine  and  there  appeared  to  be  no 
need  to  get  over  the  pass  to-day.  The  drivers  were  tired, 
and  we  could  very  well  spend  the  night  in  the  village  of 
Bikandi  on  this  side,  and  have  quite  a  short  run  into 
Kasvin  to-morrow.  I  was  very  much  tempted  to  do  this, 
but  choice  fortunately  decided  against  it.     We  pushed 


52     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

on  and  crossed  the  pass  at  sunset,  and  two  miles  farther 
on  found  an  excellent  serai  that  held  us  all  for  the  night. 

The  same  startling  change  took  place  in  the  weather 
at  night  as  we  had  experienced  at  Asadabad.  We  woke 
to  find  the  whole  country  buried  in  snow,  and  a  first- 
class  blizzard  in  full  progress.  Had  we  remained  last 
night  on  the  far  side  of  the  pass  we  might  have  been  held 
up  for  a  week.  As  it  was,  the  distance  to  Kasvin  was 
only  20  miles,  and  the  road,  when  you  could  find  it  in 
the  snow,  was  not  bad.  Driving  was  difficult  with  freezing 
hands  and  the  glass  screen  obscured  with  clinging  snow- 
flakes,  but  we  got  in  by  noon  after  an  unadventurous 
journey,  and  were  glad  to  be  able  to  tuck  ourselves  into 
warm  billets. 

The  people  of  Kasvin  had  not  looked  as  if  they  liked 
us  when  we  passed  through  on  our  way  down  ;  it  was 
not  likely  therefore  that  they  would  be  any  more  amiable 
now.  It  was  certain  that  we  would  not  have  a  very 
pleasant  time  in  the  town,  and  it  would  be  too  lively 
for  our  permanent  resting  place.  For  this  reason  I 
selected  Hamadan,  where  we  could  occupy  a  good 
defensive  position  outside  the  town  and  on  the  higher 
ground,  and  whence  communication  with  Baghdad  would 
be  facilitated  through  the  Russian  wireless  station. 

Before  proceeding  to  wind  our  way  through  the  narrow 
and  muddy  roads  of  the  town,  I  halted  the  convoy  behind 
a  vineyard  near  to  the  principal  gate  to  enable  them  to 
close  up  and  make  a  smart  entry.  At  this  moment  we 
were  greeted  with  a  sudden  outburst  of  rapid  firing  and 
the  sound  of  bullets  whizzing  quite  as  near  as  an  aimed 
Persian  bullet  would  be  likely  to  be.  However,  they 
proved  to  be  not  hostile  but  friendly  bullets  ;  a  large 
wagon  filled  with  Russian  soldiers  came  slowly  round 
the  corner  through  the  snow,  and  the  occupants  were 
indulging  with  rather  more  than  usual  vigour  in  their 
favourite  pastime  of  firing  a  feu  de  joie. 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  58 

We  proceeded  on  our  way  through  the  town  to  the 
British  Consulate,  where  Mr.  Goodwin  had  again  made 
all  arrangements  for  the  comfortable  housing  of  officers 
and  men. 

Our  arrival  had  caused  quite  a  stir  in  the  town. 
Reports  went  round  to  the  effect  that  Kuchik  Khan  had 
stopped  us  at  Resht  and  allowed  us  to  go  back  as  an 
act  of  clemency,  after  relieving  us  of  our  cash  and  valuable 
stores.  We  were  naturally  regarded  as  a  defeated  party, 
and  the  determination  to  wipe  us  out  was  more  vigorously 
made  then  ever. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  whole 
of  North  Persia  was  full  of  arms  and  ammunition,  and 
any  mob  that  turned  out  would  be  a  mob  armed  with 
Russian,  Turkish  and  English  rifles ;  so  if  they  could  only 
screw  up  their  pluck  sufficiently  to  substitute  action  for 
talk  we  might  anticipate  a  rather  warm  time.  Meetings 
were  held  in  the  mosques,  and  inflammatory  placards 
posted  on  the  walls  of  the  houses. 

The  next  day,  February  23rd,  was  spent  in  Kasvin 
thoroughly  overhauling  the  cars.  It  was  most  desirable 
to  get  on,  but  the  cars  were  not  up  to  it.  During  this 
day  the  proceedings  of  yesterday  were  repeated  in  a  more 
marked  way,  and  all  the  mob  now  required  was  a  leader, 
which  they  luckily  failed  to  find — plenty  of  talkers  but 
a  dearth  of  leaders. 

I  was  now  able  to  send  home  by  the  Indo-European 
telegraph  line  which  passes  through  Kasvin  a  report  of 
the  occurrences  up  to  date.  This  had  not  been  pos- 
sible at  Enzeli,  where  there  was  only  the  Russian 
wireless  station,  which  was  naturally  not  placed  at  our 
disposal. 

I  cabled  to  the  effect  that  the  mission  had  failed  to 
get  beyond  Enzeli  and  were  only  enabled  to  withdraw 
from  there  by  sheer  good  fortune  ;  that  it  would  be  useless 
to  make  any  further  attempt  to  reach  Enzeli  until  we 


54     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

either   fought   or   came   to   an   agreement   with  Kuchik 
Khan. 

At  Kasvin  I  received  an  official  intimation  from  this 
leader  that  his  troops  had  been  ordered  to  attack  the 
column  if  any  attempt  were  made  to  repeat  the  experiment 
of  passing  through  his  country.  We  also  became  aware 
of  a  plot,  the  failure  of  which  accounted  for  our  not  being 
molested  on  our  previous  journey.  It  appears  that  the 
Jangalis  had  determined  to  ambush  the  convoy  on  the 
road,  but  had  feared  lest  the  Russian  troops  marching 
in  an  endless  procession  down  the  road  might  throw  in 
their  lot  with  us  and  act  as  reinforcements.  They  had 
therefore  addressed  the  Russian  leaders  on  this  point 
and  begged  from  them  a  promise  of  non-interference. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  there  was  considerable 
delay  in  the  Russian  reply,  which,  however,  in  the  end 
proved  to  be  a  refusal  to  give  the  required  guarantee. 
Although  according  to  their  own  point  of  view  they  were 
no  longer  our  Allies,  any  other  decision  would  have  been 
disgraceful,  and  we  must  be  grateful  that  even  the 
revolutionary  soldiers  proved  themselves  to  be  "  white 
men  "  in  this  matter  and  refused  to  be  parties  to  such 
treachery.  The  Enzeli  Committee  were  in  favour  of  letting 
the  Jangalis  have  their  own  way,  but  the  troops  on 
the  road  were  against  it. 

I  had  also  the  interesting  news  that  a  strong  detach- 
ment of  Red  Guards  from  Baku  had  arrived  at  Enzeli 
the  moment  after  our  departure.  This  probably  explains 
the  effusive  manner  in  which  Cheliapin  begged  me  to 
stay  one  more  day  as  their  guests,  to  enable  a  reply 
to  be  received  to  a  certain  message  he  had  sent  asking 
if  we  could  possibly  be  allowed  to  proceed. 

The  Red  Guards  were  to  do  the  work  the  Enzeli  Com- 
mittee were  afraid  to  undertake — the  capture  of  the 
British  mission. 

During   February   23rd  no  outbreak  occurred.    The 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  56 

night  was  kept  lively  with  perpetual  firing,  but  it  was 
only  the  usual  expression  of  Russian  joy,  although  it 
sounded  as  if  a  fierce  battle  were  in  progress. 

At  8  a.m.  on  the  24th  our  procession  once  more  passed 
through  the  Kasvin  streets  with  the  formidable  armoured 
car  acting  as  rear-guard,  and  we  were  soon  bowling  along 
the  really  good  road  and  enjoying  a  spell  of  fine  weather. 
We  reached  Aveh  at  4  p.m.,  and  shared  the  small  and 
dirty  post-house  with  some  Cossacks.  On  the  following 
day  we  crossed  the  Sultan  Bulaq  Pass  in  deep  snow,  but 
as  before,  with  a  good  road  cut  through  the  drifts,  and 
reached  Hamadan  in  the  evening. 

Here  we  got  the  men  into  good  billets  on  the  premises 
of  the  American  Mission,  while  for  the  officers  we  were 
able  to  secure  two  good  bungalows  in  the  vicinity.  Colonel 
Duncan,  Captain  Dunning  and  myself  were  accommodated 
in  the  Bank  House,  which  is  alongside  the  mission  com- 
pound. We  were  thus  very  suitably  situated  as  regards 
defence — cars,  men  and  officers  in  close  proximity  and 
ready  to  turn  out  at  a  moment's  notice. 

The  ancient  town  of  Hamadan,  or  Ecbatana,  the 
treasure  city  of  the  AchaBmenian  kings,  lies  on  the  northern 
slopes  of  the  Elvend  range,  the  highest  peak  of  which 
runs  to  11,900  feet.  The  lower  part  of  the  town  is  6,500 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  foreign  settlement  which  I 
had  chosen  for  our  position  lies  at  about  7,000  feet,  which 
means  something  like  an  Arctic  climate  in  winter.  A 
better  position  could  not  be  imagined  ;  the  site  is  healthy 
and  entirely  overlooks  the  town,  and  water  is  plentiful 
from  the  streams  that  flow  down  from  the  mountain 
side,  and  which  we  were  able  to  use  without  fear  of 
pollution. 

The  city  itself  is  quite  uninteresting,  the  houses  being 
of  the  usual  type  in  Persia  and  Northern  India,  the 
better  kind  well  built  of  brick  surrounded  with  mud  walls, 
the  poorer  of  sun-dried  bricks.    A   few  ancient    domes 


56     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

with  the  remains  of  coloured  tiles  brighten  the  general 
dulness  of  the  city  ;  these  are  either  mosques  or  tombs, 
among  the  latter  being  those  of  Esther  and  Mordecai. 
On  the  east  lies  the  big  mound  supposed  to  be  the  site 
of  the  ancient  palace,  of  which  no  trace  now  remains. 
In  fact,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  any  city  with  half  the 
history  of  Hamadan  possessing  fewer  relics  of  its  bygone 
glories.  It  was  taken  and  plundered  by  Alexander  the 
Great  and  was  the  scene  of  some  of  his  wildest  orgies. 
Successive  conquerors  appear  to  have  most  effectually 
removed  any  trace  of  the  wonderful  buildings  described, 
probably  with  much  exaggeration,  in  ancient  records. 
The  solitary  remnant  of  past  glories  is  the  stone  lion 
which  lies  in  the  fields  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the 
north-eastern  edge  of  the  town,  a  piece  of  sculpture  that 
possibly  stood  at  one  of  the  former  entrances.  This 
lion  is  now  supposed  to  possess  all  sorts  of  magic 
qualities,  and  is  much  appealed  to  by  those  to  whom 
male  offspring  has  been  denied  or  who  suffer  from  some 
incurable  disease. 

I  should  like  to  quote  here  a  verse  from  a  poem  on 
Hamadan  by  Clinton  Scqllard,  which  I  copied  from  a 
book  on  travel  in  Persia  in  the  possession  of  the  American 
mission. 

Nought  of  all  the  radiant  past, 

Nought  of  all  the  varied,  v^ast 

Life  that  thrilled  and  throbbed  remains 

With  its  pleasures  and  its  pains. 

Save  a  couehant  lion,  lone 

Mute  memorial  in  stone 

Of  three  Empires  overthrown, 

Median,  Persian,  Parthian, 

Round  the  walls  of  Hamadan. 

A  mountain  stream  flows  through  the  centre  of  the  town 
and   helps  to  brighten  the  dull  surroundings  and  simul- 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  57 

taneously  to  provide  water  and  a  drainage  channel  for 
the  inhabitants. 

Hamadan  is  a  place  of  considerable  commercial  im- 
portance, being  noted  among  other  things  for  leather 
manufactures  and  carpet  weaving.  The  population  is 
about  50,000,  including  a  considerable  proportion  of 
Jews  and  Armenians.  The  people  of  the  district  are 
partly  of  Turkish  origin,  at  least  one  half  belonging  to 
the  Turkish  Karaguzlu  tribe,  and  Turki  is  more  spoken 
in  the  villages  than  Persian. 

The  town  is  surrounded  by  cultivation,  and  is  very 
beautiful  in  the  spring  when  the  young  wheat  is  coming 
up  and  the  fruit-trees  are  in  blossom.  From  our  quarters 
we  looked  out  over  the  plain  which  lies  unbroken  to  the 
north  for  50  miles  as  far  as  the  Sultan  Bulaq  Pass. 

The  site  we  had  chosen  was  ideal  from  a  military 
point  of  view.  The  Turks  had  equally  selected  it  when 
here,  and  the  house  which  was  now  my  Head  Quarters 
had  a  year  ago  been  theirs.  It  is  due  to  the  Turks  to 
say  that  very  little  damage  had  been  done  by  them  to 
the  Bank  House. 

The  original  plan  having  for  the  time  being  quite 
broken  down,  we  needed  to  take  our  bearings  and  see 
what  could  still  be  done  to  thwart  the  Turk  in  these 
regions. 

The  first  obvious  thing  was  that  by  remaining  where 
we  were,  if  we  could  hold  out,  we  could  interfere  with 
the  numerous  Turkish  and  German  agents  who  were  at 
work  in  this  part  of  Persia,  while  awaiting  a  change  in 
the  situation  which  might  enable  us  to  make  another 
dash  for  the  Caucasus.  Meantime  the  Persian  internal 
situation  was  very  complicated  and  required  watching. 
In  any  case,  as  snow  now  continued  to  fall  almost  daily, 
all  passes  were  completely  blocked  and  no  move  could 
be  attempted  ;  we  were  quite  cut  off  from  Baghdad  and 
nothing  could  possibly  reach  us.     A  Russian  party  with 


58     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

ammunition  loaded  on  pack  transport  had  lost  six  men 
and  thirty  animals  frozen  to  death  on  the  Asadabad  Pass, 
which  we  had  crossed  a  fortnight  ago,  and  it  was  clear 
that  we  were  in  for  a  long  spell  of  bad  weather. 

I  was  able  through  the  Russian  wireless  to  com- 
municate with  Baghdad  and  thence  with  London,  and 
received  instructions  to  remain  where  I  was,  to  watch 
the  Persian  situation  and  to  move  forward  if  any 
possible  chance  occurred. 

The  next  thing  to  do  was  to  consider  if  there  were  no 
other  routes  by  which  we  could  enter  the  Caucasus.  The 
only  other  possible  route  was  from  Kasvin  through  Tabriz 
and  Julfa,  where  we  could  get  on  to  the  railway  to  Tiflis. 
The  distance  from  Kasvin  to  Tabriz  is  over  300  miles, 
the  road  is  impassable  for  motors  in  winter  and  lies 
through  the  Shahsavan  tribe  with  the  Jangalis  on  our 
right  flank.  Balancing  pros  and  cons,  it  did  not  seem  in 
any  way  possible  to  attempt  any  movement  by  this  road 
with  any  prospect  of  success. 

Troops  were  now  urgently  needed,  as  Persia  was  on 
the  verge  of  very  serious  internal  trouble,  but  as  long  as 
the  Arctic  winter  remained  it  was  not  possible  properly 
to  equip  and  march  men  up  the  road  by  which  we  had 
come.  So  we  had  just  to  stay  where  we  were  and  to 
carry  through  with  blujBf. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  Persians  we  always  looked  stronger 
than  we  were.  The  mere  sight  of  the  armoured  car 
inspired  awe,  and  the  forty-one  cars  were  probably  each 
supposed  to  contain  some  fearful  weapon.  The  forty- 
one  drivers,  too,  looked  most  imposing,  the  Persians 
not  being  aware  of  the  fact  that  their  military  training 
hardly  extended  beyond  the  technical  knowledge  of  their 
motor  vehicles.  But  these  drivers  deserve  all  the  praise 
I  can  give  them.  With  their  two  Sergeants,  Harris  and 
Watson,  they  performed  marvels,  and  never  grumbled 
under  the  most  trying  circumstances. 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  59 

The  situation  and  the  measures  taken  to  meet  it  were 
as  follows  : 

The  Persian  Government  were  quite  naturally  sitting 
on  the  fence,  and  leaning  rather  towards  the  side  of  the 
Germans,  whose  propaganda  and  rose-coloured  war  news 
enchanted  the  Teheran  people.  Teheran  was  still  neutral 
in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory.  While  the  Turks  and 
Russians  had  been  freely  using  the  Kasvin-Kermanshah 
road  as  a  battle-ground,  the  sanctuary  of  Teheran  remained 
undisturbed.  Alongside  of  the  British  Legation  the  flags 
of  the  Turkish  and  German  Legations  floated  proudly  on 
the  breeze,  and  the  Turks  had  a  free  hand  for  propaganda 
and  intrigue.  The  Germans,  however,  in  spite  of  the 
laws  of  neutrality,  did  not  seem  to  regard  the  Persian 
capital  as  a  healthy  place  of  residence,  and  though  the 
flag  flew  over  the  building  the  Legation  was  actually 
closed. 

The  Kuchik  Khan  movement  was  also  in  the  ascend- 
ant. Our  retirement  was  undoubtedly  attributed  to 
his  action,  and  his  prestige  was  duly  enhanced.  His 
reform  programme  recommended  itself  to  all  the  serious 
democrats  as  well  as  the  usual  turbulent  element  that 
wants  any  change  that  brings  disorder  and  prospects 
of  loot.  He  had  sympathizers  in  the  Cabinet  itself, 
Kasvin  was  full  of  his  agents,  as  well  as  Hamadan  and 
all  other  large  towns.  He  was  acclaimed  as  the  saviour 
of  Persia,  who  was  going  to  turn  the  foreigners  out  and 
bring  back  the  golden  age.  Added  to  all  this  was  the 
fact  that  the  spirit  of  Bolshevism  was  in  the  air,  and  j 

the  microbe  of  revolution  was  spreading  through  all  the  / 

nations  of  the  world  :  it  was  not  likely  that  Persia  would 
escape.  One  would  have  thought  that  the  object-lesson 
provided  by  the  Russian  troops  would  have  acted  as  a 
deterrent,  but  it  apparently  had  the  contrary  effect. 

It  was  clear  therefore  that  Kuchik  Khan    had  only 
to  display  his  banner,  march  on  Kasvin  and  thence  on 


60     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Teheran  and  establish  a  revolutionary  Government  in 
Persia.  With  all  the  leading  officials,  as  well  as  the  greater 
part  of  the  populace  on  his  side,  success  was  certain  if 
only  he  struck  now.  The  time  was  ripe,  but  the  weather 
was  bad,  and  by  the  time  he  eventually  decided  to  move 
we  were  able  to  checkmate  him.  Behind  him  he  had 
the  very  strong  propelling  power  of  German  and  Turkish 
agents  and  the  Mahomedan  Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress,  and  against  him  he  had  nothing,  but  he  failed 
to  snatch  the  opportune  moment  and  Persia  was  saved. 
The  interesting  details  of  this  movement  will  appear  in 
a  later  chapter. 

My  situation  was  affected  by  the  movement  to  the 
extent  that,  if  it  were  successful,  we  were  obviously 
among  the  obnoxious  foreigners  who  were  to  be  got  rid 
of,  and  the  large  number  of  sympathizers  in  the  town  of 
Hamadan  ought  to  feel  it  their  duty  to  show  their  sympathy 
by  getting  rid  of  us  on  the  spot.  But  any  plan  for  our 
direct  removal  was  shelved  as  usual  for  the  more  exciting 
but  less  efficacious  method  of  plot  and  intrigue,  against 
which  we  were  more  proof  than  we  were  against  bullets. 

The  first  step  to  ensure  our  own  safety  and  to  render 
services  that  should  be  very  valuable  to  the  Allied  cause 
was  to  start  a  good  intelligence  system.  This  was  at 
once  inaugurated  under  Captain  Saunders  and  achieved 
most  valuable  results.  Nothing  could  have  been  better 
than  the  work  done  by  the  officers  in  this  department, 
and  no  greater  compliment  could  be  paid  them  than  that 
contained  in  the  following  extract  from  an  intercepted 
letter  written  by  one  of  the  many  plotters,  "  the  English 
hear  even  our  whispers."  Through  our  agents  we  were 
at  all  times  thoroughly  in  touch  with  the  general  situation 
in  Persia,  the  local  situation  in  Hamadan  and  the  strength 
and  position  of  the  nearest  Turkish  detachments.  We 
were  also  able  eventually  entirely  to  check  all  movements 
of  spies  on  the  stretch  between  Kasvin  and  Kermanshah, 


I 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  61 

and  several  quite  good  fish  fell  into  the  nets  that  we  spread 
for  them.  As  regards  local  intelligence  we  were  able  to 
know  the  exact  degree  of  complicity  with  enemy  agents 
of  every  single  man  of  importance  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  knowledge  of  this  sort  is  very  literally  strength. 

Endeavours  had  also  to  be  made  to  get  in  touch  with 
Colonel  Pike  and  Captain  Goldsmith  at  Tiflis,  and  special 
messengers  were  dispatched  for  this  purpose,  but  all  our 
efforts  to  establish  communication  with  Tiflis  failed. 

From  among  the  Persians  themselves  we  recruited  a 
very  few  but  very  good  agents.  These  men  worked  for 
money,  but  money  alone  would  not  have  produced  the 
results  ;  they  threw  their  lot  in  most  whole-heartedly  with 
us,  and  one  of  them  at  least  was  as  brave  a  man  as  I 
have  ever  met  in  my  life,  risking  his  life  for  the  sheer 
pleasure  of  risking  it,  and  no  danger  or  threats  ever 
prevented  him  from  following  up  a  clue.  The  Russians 
were  still  occupying  Hamadan ;  the  whole  town  was 
full  of  them,  and  sleep  was  much  disturbed  by  their  un- 
restricted indulgence  in  night-firing.  Their  Head  Quarters 
were  in  the  small  summer  resort  of  Sheverin,  about  3 
miles  away,  and  the  prospect  of  their  quitting  the  neigh- 
bourhood seemed  very  remote. 

General  Baratov  was  in  command,  with  General 
Lastochkin  as  Chief  of  the  Staff,  and  our  sympathies 
were  very  deeply  with  these  officers  in  their  difficult  task 
of  endeavouring  to  control  troops  who  had  broken  away 
from  discipline,  and  any  prospect  of  the  restoration  of 
discipline  had  disappeared  since  officers  had  been  for- 
bidden to  wear  any  badges  of  rank.  Bicherakov  was 
still  at  Kermanshah,  but  a  small  detachment  of  his 
men  were  here,  and  represented  the  only  unit  that 
had  any  respect  for  law  and  order. 

Among  other  matters  that  required  attention  was  the 
question  of  supplies.  Our  own  needs  were  considerable, 
and  we  had  also  to  be  prepared  for  any  number  of  troops 


62     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

that  might  be  sent  up  later  to  these  parts.  In  the  midst 
of  the  terrible  famine  that  was  now  at  its  height  I  did 
not  wish  to  draw  supplies  from  the  country  that  would 
still  further  reduce  the  stock  available  for  the  starving 
people.  But  we  soon  had  accurate  intelligence  on  the 
supply  question  and  found  that  there  was  sufficient  grain 
and  fodder  for  all,  though  no  abundance,  and  it  was  only 
being  held  up  to  secure  higher  prices.  Unfortunately, 
however,  the  result  of  our  small  purchases  was  to  send 
prices  still  higher,  and  each  fractional  rise  meant  the 
death  of  many  individuals.  Only  a  properly  regulated 
wheat  control  system  could  meet  the  case,  and  we  were 
not  at  present  strong  enough  to  enforce  our  views  on  this 
subject,  but  we  were  able  later  to  undertake  the  necessary 
measures  when  Brigadier-General  Byron  came  up  to 
Hamadan  as  my  second-in-command.  General  Byron 
remained  for  a  long  time  in  Hamadan  and  was  able 
to  deal  with  the  famine  and  wheat  control  in  a 
businesslike  way  which  did  much  to  enhance  our 
popularity. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  forecast  how  long  we  were 
likely  to  be  in  Hamadan  or  in  North  Persia  generally,  it 
was  necessary  without  further  ado  to  tackle  the  language 
and  get  to  know  the  officials  and  the  people.  Those  of 
us  who  had  a  smattering  of  Persian  soon  learnt  to  improve 
our  pronunciation,  and  those  who  knew  none  began 
taking  lessons. 

The  visits  to  the  various  officials  and  land  owners  were 
interesting  and  instructive.  The  principal  officials  in  a 
Persian  town  are  the  Governor,  the  Deputy  Governor, 
the  Kar-guzar,  who  deals  with  foreign  matters,  and  the 
Head  of  Police.  In  Hamadan  we  had  also  a  special 
official  appointed  in  connection  with  the  liquidation  of 
the  Russian  debts.  The  official  who  held  this  appoint- 
ment at  the  time  of  our  residence  in  Hamadan  was  Haji 
Saad-es-Sultaneh,  a  most  enlightened  Persian  who  had 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  63 

travelled   much,  and  to  whose   society  I   am  indebted 
for  many  a  pleasant  and  instructive  hour. 

Li  Persia  all  people  of  any  consequence  are  known  by 
titles,  and  their  names  are  never  known  to  their  ordinary 
acquaintances.  This  makes  it  hard  to  trace  people,  as 
titles  change  frequently,  and  the  title  bears  no  reference 
to  the  nature  of  employment.  Thus  a  gentleman  of 
noble  birth  who  bears  the  title  of  "  Leader  of  the  Army  " 
has  no  connection  with  any  military  occupation.  "  The 
Governor  of  the  Kingdom  "  is  a  pronounced  democrat, 
"  Headman  of  All  "  is  a  humble  person  of  no  importance, 
and  one  of  the  most  dunderheaded  illiterates  I  ever  met 
was  entitled  "  The  Ocean  of  Knowledge." 

Within  a  few  days  of  our  arrival  in  Hamadan  we  had 
begun  to  make  acquaintances  among  the  people.  The 
inevitable  football  was  produced  and  the  men  were  able 
to  get  a  little  relaxation  and  exercise.  The  Persians 
joined  freely  in  the  game  which,  owing  to  the  presence 
of  the  American  Mission  here,  was  not  entirely  new  to 
them,  the  graceful  extra-long-tailed  frock-coat  they  wear 
looking  quite  an  unusual  garment  on  a  football  ground. 
It  certainly  is  more  attractive  than  the  football  jersey, 
and  any  one  who  has  seen  the  tails  of  a  Persian  frock-coat 
flopping  in  the  breeze,  as  its  owner  flies  down  the  ground, 
will  realize  that  there  is  no  comparison  between  the  two. 
The  boys  who  had  been  under  the  influence  of  the  mission 
school  were  usually  more  correctly  but  less  quaintly 
garbed. 

It  seemed  as  if  the  drivers  might  have  much  leisure 
for  football  as  the  cars  would  not  have  much  chance  of 
running  for  some  time.  Not  only  were  the  passes  quite 
blocked,  but  the  petrol  question  had  become  very  acute. 
We  now  relied  entirely  on  the  Russians  for  our  supply. 
General  Baratov  was  most  anxious  to  help,  and  took  steps 
to  ensure  an  ample  supply,  but  with  the  roads  blocked 
and  with  subordinates  not  amenable  to  discipline  the 


64     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

petrol  seldom  arrived.  A  certain  amount  was  always 
to  be  purchased  in  the  town,  and  we  laid  in  a  stock  of 
this  at  most  exorbitant  rates.  This  petrol  found  its 
way  into  the  bazaars  through  the  Russian  drivers, 
who  added  to  their  slender  incomes  by  disposing  of  a 
proportion  of  their  consignments  in  this  way. 

Our  first  efforts  at  establishing  friendly  relations  with 
the  people  were  not  entirely  successful.  The  prospects 
of  our  success  in  this  direction  naturally  called  forth 
increased  anti-British  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  local 
officials.  The  Governor  and  all  the  chief  people  of  the 
town  spared  no  means  to  set  the  people  against  us  ;  while 
the  politicians  of  every  shade,  Extreme  Democrats, 
Moderate  Democrats  and  Social  Democrats,  held  the 
usual  meetings  denouncing  us  and  decreeing  our  immediate 
extermination. 

Although  we  had  been  in  Hamadan  only  a  few  days 
the  people  were  informed  that  the  rise  in  the  price  of 
bread  was  the  result  of  our  purchases  of  wheat  (which 
were  so  far  nil),  that  we  were  the  advance-guard  of  an 
army,  and  if  we  were  allowed  to  live,  the  army  would 
arrive  and  eat  up  all  the  country  and  commit  all  sorts 
of  atrocities.  On  the  other  hand,  if  we  were  slaughtered, 
the  army  would  never  dare  to  come.  I  thought  it  worth 
while  to  take  a  leaf  out  of  their  own  book  and  try  the 
effect  of  a  printed  proclamation.  I  therefore  had  notices 
posted  in  the  town  to  the  following  effect:  "  The  British 
are  here  as  quite  a  temporary  measure,  and  have  no 
intention  at  all  of  remaining  in  this  part  of  Persia,  where 
our  presence  is  only  necessary  in  order  to  counteract  that 
of  the  Turks.  In  all  lands  our  first  care  is  that  of  the 
people,  and  it  is  well  known  that  wherever  the  British 
flag  flies  it  stands  for  freedom,  peace  and  prosperity. 
We  have  made  no  purchases  of  wheat  and  we  are  anxious 
to  help  to  alleviate  the  famine.  The  present  high  prices 
are  not  due  to  our  purchases,  as  we  have  so  far  made 


I 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  65 

none,  but  to  a  deliberate  plot  of  the  democrats  who 
intimidate  grain  dealers  and  bakers  and  force  up  the  price 
artificially  in  order  to  drive  the  people  into  a  frenzy." 

This  proclamation  produced  a  considerable  effect  in 
the  town,  and  helped  to  discredit  the  agitators.  Nor  was 
the  good  effect  much  reduced  by  their  counter-proclamation 
which  consisted  chiefly  of  abuse,  but  contained  the  following 
amusing  sentence.  "  The  British  General  says  he  comes 
to  bring  peace  and  prosperity.  Did  we  ask  for  it  ?  Let 
him  keep  his  peace  and  prosperity  till  we  demand  it. 
Persia  represents  a  civilization  that  was  in  its  prime 
long  before  the  British  were  ever  heard  of,  and  conse- 
quently we  are  not  likely  to  learn  much  from  them." 

I  do  not  think  that  the  sentimental  appeal  to  patriotic 
pride  in  their  ancient  civilization  interested  the  people 
half  as  much  as  my  statement  that  our  policy  would  be 
to  help  to  alleviate  the  famine  conditions.  The  fact  is 
that  the  presence  in  their  midst  of  a  new  type  of  soldier, 
who  behaved  himself  with  dignity  and  paid  good  prices 
for  the  articles  he  purchased,  was  beginning  to  sway 
popular  opinion  in  our  favour,  and  the  more  this  feeling 
on  the  part  of  the  people  became  apparent,  the  more 
vigorously  did  the  democrats  plot  and  scheme  to  turn 
the  tide  against  us. 

In  a  few  days  the  change  of  feeling  in  our  favour  was 
quite  marked,  and  the  intelligence  department  was 
beginning  to  make  our  presence  felt  in  other  beneficial 
ways.  A  complete  system  of  agents  and  messengers  was 
organized  to  cover  the  whole  area  from  Hamadan  to  the 
Caucasus,  and  we  were  soon  able  to  mark  down  and  later 
to  deal  effectively  with  the  most  violent  of  our  opponents. 

Meanwhile  there  was  the  question  of  our  further  parties 
now  assembling  in  Baghdad.  The  mission  had  been 
officially  designated  '*  Dunsterforce,"  and  a  Dunsterforce 
camp  was  formed  at  Baghdad,  and  afterwards  at  Ruz, 
to  accommodate  the  various  parties  till  orders  could  b© 

6 


66     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

issued  as  to  their  disposal.  The  unofficial  designation 
was  ''  The  Hush-Hush  Army." 

I  was  anxious  to  get  up  another  batch  of  officers, 
but  we  were  not  yet  quite  sure  of  our  ground,  and  motor 
transport  for  them  could  not  at  the  time  be  spared  from 
Baghdad.  I  thoroughly  realized  the  unfortunate  situation 
of  these  officers  and  men  arriving  from  some  active  theatre 
of  the  war,  full  of  hope  for  the  chance  of  great  achievements, 
being  obliged  to  kick  their  heels  in  camp  in  Mesopotamia  ; 
but  for  the  moment  things  must  remain  as  they  were,  and 
the  only  thing  for  them  to  do  was  to  undertake  the  study 
of  Persian  or  Russian — a  dull  enough  task  for  men  who 
were  primarily  fighting  men  and  who  had  never  expected 
to  be  asked  to  qualify  as  linguists. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  an  appreciation  of 
the  situation  which  I  dispatched  at  this  time: 

^  "...  The  real  combination  we  are  up  against  is   not 

only  the  Bolsheviks  but  the  Pan-Islamic  scheme  uniting 
the  Tartars  of  Baku  with  the  Jangalis  of  Enzeli — a  very 
strong  anti-British  combination  backed  with  German 
money  and  German  officers.  ...  As  regards  Tiflis,  we  are 
out  to  help  people  who  cannot  agree  among  themselves 
and  seem  to  want  not  British  interference  but  just  British 
money,  and  that  is  all.  Had  it  been  possible  for  my  mission 
to  have  been  in  Tiflis  by  the  autumn  of  1917,  I  would 
have  devoted  the  whole  of  my  energies  to  the  drawing 
together  of  the  two  Christian  peoples,  the  Georgians  and 
the  Armenians,  while  trying  to  bring  the  Mahomedan 
Tartars  into  line  with  them.  On  this  basis  alone  could 
complete  success  be  achieved. 

"  But  what  has  happened  during  those  six  months  ? 
So  far  from  sinking  their  religious  differences,  both  sides 
have  accentuated  them,  and  the  attitude  of  the  Christian 
communities  has  driven  the  Tartars  into  a  leaning  towards 
the  Turks.     As  regards  the  immediate  future,  let  Persia 


WE  FALL  BACK  TO  HAMADAN  67 

and  the  Jangalis  be  first  settled,  and  the  road  is  clear 
at  least  as  far  as  the  South  Caspian.  ..." 

To  deal  with  the  Jangalis  effectively  troops  would  be 
required.  As  long  as  we  had  no  troops  on  the  ground 
Kuchik  Khan  refused  to  enter  into  any  negotiations. 
Once  troops  were  visible  he  would  either  fight  or  more 
probably  admit  the  sense  of  a  mutual  agreement. 


CHAPTER    V 
AN    ALLIANCE    OF    PHANTOMS 

BY  the  middle  of  March  we  were  firmly  established 
on  a  fairly  solid  foundation  in  Hamadan.  The 
strength  of  our  position  was  much  improved  by  the 
Persian  habit  of  exaggeration,  which  leaned  very  much  in 
our  favour.  We  were  fortunate  in  being  able  to  see  most 
of  the  telegrams  that  passed  between  various  officials, 
and  which  generally  ran  something  on  these  lines: 

"  From  X.  to  Z. 

Why  have  you  not  reported  the  numbers  of  British 
troops  in  your  neighbourhood  ?  You  do  not  do  your 
work  properly  and  you  will  have  to  be  removed." 

"  From  Z.  to  X. 

I  do  my  best  to  get  information,  but  it  is  hard 
to  find  out  what  troops  there  are.  They  do  not  allow 
us  to  come  near  their  place  of  residence." 

"  From  X.  to  Z. 

You  must  ascertain  personally  and  give  me 
accurate  information.  I  must  know  what  numbers 
they  have.     You  must  obey  orders." 

This    peremptory    message    worries    and    annoys  Z., 
who  in  his  exasperation  lets  himself  go  as  follows  : 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  69 

"In  compliance  with  your  orders  I  send  figures  that 
are  reliable.  They  have  here  about  500  men  and  twelve 
armoured  cars,  each  of  the  latter  has  four  large  guns. 
I  have  seen  all  this  with  my  own  eyes.  They  also  have 
about  150  motor-cars." 

Then  Z.  probably  smiles  to  himself  as  he  thinks  of 
the  delight  of  X.  at  receiving  such  authentic  information. 

We  were  beginning  to  get  about  the  country  a  good 
deal  now,  and  small  parties  with  three  or  four  Ford  vans 
might  be  seen  in  various  towns,  each  party  resulting  in 
a  similar  telegram  to  the  above.  When  X.  came  to  add 
up  the  totals  received  from  his  various  informants  our 
party  of  twelve  officers,  two  clerks,  forty-one  drivers 
and  one  armoured  car  must  have  assumed  the  dimensions 
of  an  army  corps.  I  purposely  omit  names  and 
official  titles  from  these  telegrams  for  obvious  reasons. 

The  Turks  were  certain  to  have  better  information, 
but  probably  also  much  exaggerated,  and  I  do  not  think 
they  ever  realized  that  the  240  miles  of  road  from 
Kermanshah  to  Kasvin  was  being  held  by  twelve  officers 
and  two  clerks  plus  the  armoured  car.  They  were  so 
close — in  Shenneh,  for  example,  only  100  miles  from 
Hamadan — that  a  raid  on  our  party  would  have  been 
easy  and  probably  successful.  We  were,  moreover, 
surrounded  by  individual  Turks  ;  in  fact  there  were  so 
many  that  we  could  not  possibly  undertake  to  arrest 
them  all  as  we  could  spare  neither  guards  nor  rations. 
One  or  two  of  the  more  active  among  them  had  to  be 
arrested,  but  the  remainder  were  left  in  peace.  They 
were  in  most  cases  our  sincere  well-wishers,  chiefly  men 
who  had  recently  deserted  from  the  Turkish  detachments 
to  the  North- West,  or  from  the  army  that  had  fought 
with  the  Russians  on  this  road  in  1916-17.  Some  of 
the  latter  had  settled  down  in  the  villages  as  peaceful 
inhabitants  and  had  married  and  begun  to  raise  families. 


h 


70     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

The  Russian  evacuation  was  proceeding  now  with 
some  rapidity  and  we  would  soon  have  nothing  but  the 
men  of  Bicherakov's  detachment  left.  This  would  place 
us  in  a  far  more  favourable  position.  I  had  at  this  time 
a  great  deal  to  do  with  General  Saratov  and  his  Staff, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  discuss  many  things  with  reference 
to  the  evacuation. 

There  were  two  points  to  be  settled,  one  the  question 
of  finance,  the  other  the  question  of  handing  over  of 
material. 

I  have  mentioned  General  Baratov  before  as  being 
the  original  Commander  of  the  Russian  Army  that  had 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  war  done  so  much  to  help 
the  Allied  cause  by  operating  against  the  Turks  on  this 
road  through  North-West  Persia  and  by  linking  up  with 
our  right  flank  on  the  Turko -Persian  border. 

General  Baratov  is  himself  a  Caucasian,  with  his  home 
in  Tiflis,  and  naturally  had  his  heart  very  much  in  any 
scheme  that  would  tend  to  the  restoration  of  law  and 
order  in  that  region.  But  during  a  revolution  those  who 
previously  possessed  most  influence  become  the  least 
influential  of  all,  as  they  represent  the  very  class  against 
which  the  people  have  risen.  The  more  valuable  therefore 
his  services  had  been  and  might  still  be  to  Russia  and 
her  Allies  in  this  war,  the  more  the  Bolsheviks  demanded 
his  blood  ;  and  the  Enzeli  Committee  asked  me  to  convey 
a  polite  message  to  him  that  if  he  would  only  come  down 
to  Enzeli,  they  were  very  anxious  to  try  him  by  court 
martial  (verdict  and  sentence  a  foregone  conclusion). 
Under  these  circumstances  I  could  expect  little  help 
from  him  except  in  the  matter  of  advice. 

Had  it  been  possible  to  utilize  his  services  in  the 
Caucasus  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  personality  would 
have  been  a  great  asset.  He  is  an  extraordinarily  able 
speaker  and  always  exceedingly  popular.  In  North 
Persia  the  Russians  had  done  little  to  endear  themselves 


General  Baratov 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  71 

to  the  people,  but  the  feelings  of  friendship  and  affection 
with  which  General  Baratov  was  regarded  by  the  people 
who  had  least  cause  to  like  him,  are  evidences  of  a  very 
fine  character.  He  was  at  this  time  more  particularly 
odious  to  the  revolutionaries  as  having  been  one  of 
the  principal  supporters  of  the  Russo-British  Volunteer 
Corps,  which  they  regarded  as  being  a  counter-revolu- 
tionary movement.  The  history  of  this  corps  is  briefly 
as  follows : 

When  it  became  evident  in  the  autumn  of  1917  that 
the  Russian  troops  were  going  to  evacuate  their  portion 
of  the  line  in  North  Persia,  leaving  a  gap  of  400  miles 
on  the  right  flank  of  the  Mesopotamian  army,  it  was 
thought  that  a  force  of  volunteers  might  be  raised  from 
among  the  retiring  troops,  who  would  continue  to  serve 
under  British  control  and  on  British  pay,  and  this  would 
obviate  the  necessity  of  sending  up  troops  who  could 
ill  be  spared  from  Baghdad.  These  volunteers  were 
raised  under  the  direct  command  of  a  very  distinguished 
Russian  officer,  Colonel  Baron  Medem,  but  they  were 
a  failure  from  the  very  start,  and  when  I  saw  them  in 
February  it  was  obvious  that  they  would  never  be  of 
any  use. 

The  idea  had  been  that,  with  Russia  in  a  state  of 
anarchy,  a  large  number  of  men  would  be  glad  to  remain 
in  a  well-paid  service  until  a  change  in  affairs  might  render 
a  return  to  their  homes  a  more  pleasant  prospect  than 
it  was  at  present.  This  scheme  was  undoubtedly  attrac- 
tive, and  a  fairly  large  force  might  have  been  raised 
under  British  officers.  But  it  was  decided  that  the  force 
should  have  Russian  officers,  which  was  not  acceptable 
to  the  men.  The  eventual  failure  was  due  to  the 
Bolsheviks,  who  declared  the  movement  counter-revolu- 
tionary and  threatened  with  death  any  who  supported 
it.     And  it  was  no  real  loss  to  us. 

Judging  from  the  few  specimens  I  saw  I  am  convinced 


72     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

that  the  force  at  its  best  would  have  been  quite  worth- 
less. Even  under  British  officers  proper  military  dis- 
cipline could  never  have  been  restored,  and  the  men 
composing  the  force  would  have  been  only  the  spiritless 
loafers  who  wanted  to  draw  good  pay  and  rations  and 
avoid  the  turmoil  of  their  own  country,  while  equally 
refraining  from  risking  their  lives  or  undertaking  any 
arduous  tasks  for  the  "  cunning  "  Englishmen  in  Persia. 
We  should  therefore  be  grateful  to  the  Bolsheviks  who 
nipped  in  the  bud  a  scheme  that  was  destined  under 
any  circumstances  to  be  a  complete  failure. 

A  good  deal  of  my  time  was  also  taken  up  in  discussing 
with  General  Baratov  the  possibilities  of  British  assistance 
in  the  matter  of  the  costs  of  the  Russian  evacuation. 
It  was  clear  that  it  was  to  the  interests  of  all  that  the 
Russian  troops  should  be  got  out  of  Persia  without  delay, 
and  as  the  Russians  had  no  money  it  would  be  advisable 
to  afford  whatever  financial  assistance  might  be  neces- 
sary. This  had  been  agreed  to,  and  the  payments  were 
carefully  controlled  by  a  local  board,  of  which  Mr. 
McMurray,  of  the  Imperial  Bank,  was  President. 

But  there  remained  the  question  of  the  Russian  debts, 
and  on  this  subject  the  British  Government  was  adamant. 

The  position  was  certainly  unpleasant  for  General 
Baratov  personally,  but  it  could  hardly  be  expected 
that  we  could  allow  arguments  of  a  sentimental  nature 
to  have  any  force. 

The  British  Government  had  offered,  under  certain 
guarantees,  a  fixed  sum  payable  at  certain  periods,  which 
was  calculated  to  meet  the  difference  between  a  sum  to 
be  received  by  General  Baratov  at  intervals  from  the 
Tiflis  Government  and  the  actual  cost  of  the  evacua- 
tion. The  Tiflis  Government  failed  to  produce  their 
share,  and  the  Russian  Commander  had  to  make  up  the 
deficit  by  the  issue  of  payment  requisition  orders  in  lieu 
of  cash.     These  paper   obligations  now   amounted  to  a 


I 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  73 

considerable  sum,  and  General  Baratov  begged  that 
the  British  Government  would  undertake  their  redemp- 
tion in  order  not  only  to  clear  his  personal  honour, 
but  to  uphold  the  prestige  of  the  European  in  Asia,  a 
matter  which  he  maintained  affected  British  credit  as 
much  as  Russian. 

His  heart-rending  appeals  were  met  by  constant 
and  unqualified  refusals,  and  it  was  my  painful  duty  to 
convey  the  news  of  these  reiterated  refusals  on  each 
occasion. 

The  arguments  adduced  by  the  gallant  General  would 
have  melted  the  heart  of  a  stone  ;  but  as  they  could 
not  be  cabled  home  in  full  the  heart  of  the  British 
Government  remained  quite  unmelted. 

"  See,  Lev  Lvovitch,"  he  would  say  to  me  in  intro- 
ducing a  picturesque  allegory,  "  there  on  the  floor  before 
you  lies  a  dead  body.  Whose  body  is  it  ?  It  is  that  of 
Russia.  Have  you  no  tears  of  pity  for  it  ?  Can  you 
forget  that  that  friend,  who  now  lies  in  the  awful  still- 
ness of  death  before  you,  saved  you  and  saved  all  the 
Allies  in  the  first  year  of  the  war  ?  Because  we  have 
fallen  from  grace,  are  you  to  take  no  account  of  our 
earlier  heroism  ?  You  stand  before  me,  Russia's  friend. 
Before  you  lies,  uncared  for  and  unburied,  the  dead  body 
of  your  friend.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  will 
not  even  pay  the  funeral  expenses  ?  The  redemption 
of  the  requisitions  which  I  demand  from  your  Govern- 
ment, is  only  to  save  your  deceased  friend  from  a 
pauper's  grave  !  " 

The  contrary  contention  was,  however,  firmly  up- 
held, and  the  requisitions  were  in  the  end  only  partially 
redeemed  by  other  means. 

Another  matter  that  absorbed  much  time  was  the 
question  of  paying  the  Russians  for  material  taken  over 
from  them.  All  supplies  we  were  glad  to  have  and  took 
over   without   hesitation.     Wheeled   transport,   telegraph 


74     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

equipment  and  certain  military  stores  would  also  be  of 
great  value.  But  there  were  certain  items  which  could 
hardly  be  seriously  entertained.  Among  such  repudi- 
ated items  I  give  the  following  specimens  : 

1.  Payment    for    the    military    telegraph    line    from 

Hamadan  to  Enzeli.  Answer  :  Totally  destroyed 
and  of  no  value. 

2.  Purchase    of    military    roads    constructed   by   the 

Russian  Army.  Answer  :  The  question  of  roads 
constructed  in  Persia  must  be  referred  to  the 
Persian  Government.  Whatever  sum  of  money 
I  paid  for  these  roads  would  not  make  me 
their  owner. 

3.  Purchase    of    bridging    material.      Answer :      Per- 

manent bridges  having  been  constructed,  this 
is  not  required. 

4.  The  Russians  had  meant  to  repair  the  Asadabad 

road  and  had  collected  a  lot  of  metal  by 
the  roadside ;  will  the  British  purchase  this  ? 
Answer :    No. 

Then  when  it  was  decided  to  take  over  certain  things 
the  question  arose:  "Who  was  the  owner?"  There 
was  General  Baratov  representing  the  Tifiis  Govern- 
ment, but  there  were  also  various  other  bodies  such  as 
the  Zemski  Soyuz,  a  charitable  Red  Cross  institution, 
and  these  bodies  did  not  hand  over  their  rights  to  him. 
So  we  generally  found  that  the  things  we  bought  from 
one  man  belonged  to  another,  and  when  the  latter's 
claim  came  up  it  was  generally  a  very  nebulous  one. 

With  regard  to  some  telegraph  material  I  arranged 
to  purchase,  I  found  it  already  belonged  by  previous 
agreement  to  the  Persian  Telegraphs,  and  while  we  and 
the  Persian  Telegraphs  were  considering  the  matter, 
the  stuff  was  removed  by  a  third  party  who  had  a  very 
doubtful  claim,  but  wisely  decided  that  possession  was 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  75 

nine  points  of  the  law  and  walked  off  with  it.  This 
individual  afterwards  showed  me  the  document  on  which 
his  claim  was  based,  and  which  was  simply  a  chit  signed 
by  a  Russian  Second-Lieutenant  to  say  that  "  the  bearer 
can  have  the  wire  if  he  wants  it." 

Between  these  Russian  negotiations  and  the  endeavour 
to  establish  reasonable  relations  with  the  Persian  com- 
munity, it  may  be  understood  that  our  time  was  fully 
taken  up.  Measures  for  defence  were  also  necessary  in 
view  of  the  rumours,  based  undoubtedly  on  real  inten- 
tions, of  an  attack  on  the  mission.  Sometimes  it  was 
to  be  the  townspeople  themselves  urged  on  by  the 
political  agitators,  at  other  times  it  was  to  be  wandering 
bands  of  desperadoes,  raiding  tribes,  and  professional 
highwaymen.  It  may  have  been  just  the  fact  that  we 
were  always  prepared  both  night  and  day  that  prevented 
any  of  these  bloodthirsty  schemes  from  materializing. 
As  long  as  the  Russians  were  near  us,  it  was  possible 
that  they  might  help  us  in  case  of  difficulty,  but  it  was 
equally  possible  that  revolutionary  soldiers  might  be 
tempted  to  join  in  with  the  other  programme,  that 
included,  like  all  good  programmes,  the  looting  of 
the  bank. 

The  weather  remained  very  bad,  and  this  factor 
was  more  for  us  than  against  us,  causing  a  reluctance 
on  the  part  of  would-be  attackers  to  undertake  opera- 
tions in  the  snow,  which  fell  frequently  and  rendered 
movement  difficult  on  foot  and  impossible  in  wheeled 
conveyances. 

After  a  heavy  fall  on  March  16th  the  weather  cleared 
for  a  spell,  enabling  the  last  of  the  Russians  to  get  on 
the  move,  leaving  only  Bicherakov's  detachment  at 
Sheverin,  3  miles  out  of  the  town. 

My  thoughts  being  still  fixed  on  the  Caucasus,  many 
schemes  were  put  up  before  me  for  consideration,  but  not 
one  of  them  showed  any  reasonable  chance  of  success. 


76     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

I  was  interviewed  frequently  by  individual  Russian 
officers,  who,  inspired  with  the  desire  to  do  something 
for  their  country  in  her  desperate  plight,  propounded 
schemes  that  belonged  more  to  the  realm  of  fairyland 
than  to  that  of  practical  possibilities. 

One  such  scheme  commenced  with  a  suggestion  of 
the  payment  by  the  British  Government  of  fourteen 
million  pounds  in  a  lump  sum  and  ended  with  the  restora- 
tion of  order  in  the  Caucasus  and  a  triumphant  entry 
into  Moscow.  Other  smaller  minds  suggested  the  capture 
of  a  gunboat  on  the  Caspian  by  aeroplane,  forgetting 
that  when  the  aeroplane  had  captured  the  gunboat  the 
latter  would  have  no  port  to  put  into  and  would  have 
to  spend  its  time  till  its  oil  fuel  gave  out,  wandering  round 
and  round  the  Caspian. 

Our  supply  question  was  also  a  matter  of  some 
difficulty.  I  wanted  not  only  to  supply  our  own  needs, 
but  also  to  begin  laying  in  stocks  for  the  troops  that  must 
eventually  move  up  this  road.  But  we  were  hampered 
by  the  famine  conditions,  by  the  resistance  of  the  local 
officials  and  by  an  order  issuing  from  the  Govern- 
ment at  Teheran  that  the  British  were  to  be  prevented 
from  getting  supplies  of  any  sort.  The  food  we  got  was 
good  enough,  but  not  the  sort  of  ration  to  keep  a  British 
soldier  fit.  Meat  was  not  hard  to  obtain,  bread  in  the 
form  of  Persian  "  Sangak,"  somewhat  like  the  Indian 
chupattie,  could  be  procured  at  a  high  price,  fresh  vege- 
tables were  not  to  be  had,  and  their  place  had  to  be  taken 
by  dried  figs  and  apricots.  The  men  ate  their  rations 
cheerfully  enough  without  caring  much  for  them,  the 
British  soldier  being  a  very  staunch  conservative  in 
the  matter  of  his  food.  But  the  Persian  bread  was  too 
much  for  their  digestions,  and  they  began  to  suffer  from 
stomach  trouble  which  would  in  the  end  have  become 
serious  had  we  not  managed  at  last  to  set  up  a  small 
bakery   and   turn   out   some    quite   decent   bread.     This 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  77 

bakery  we  were  enabled  to  construct  out  of  some  of  the 
useful  gear  we  had  taken  over  from  the  Russians. 

We  began  now  to  add  to  the  strength  of  our  force 
by  taking  into  our  service  several  Russian  officers,  of 
guaranteed  integrity  and  proved  ability,  who  had  fled 
from  the  clutches  of  the  Bolsheviks  of  Baku.  These 
helped  us  greatly  to  keep  touch  with  the  Baku  situa- 
tion, and  two  of  them  were  at  once  dispatched  on  a 
secret  mission.  All  of  those  who  entered  our  service 
at  this  time  were  men  who  had  already  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  war  and  who  would  stick  at  nothing 
to  prove  their  merit ;  they  nobly  maintained  their 
reputation. 

The  last  of  the  Russian  regular  army  having  with- 
drawn, Bicherakov's  men  were  now  getting  restless,  and 
he  informed  me  that  he  had  the  intention  of  following 
the  rest  of  the  army  and  leaving  Persia  as  soon  as  his 
transport  could  be  arranged.  If  he  carried  out  this 
move,  all  chance  of  retaining  our  hold  on  North  Persia 
would  be  gone.  I  could  continue  to  hold  out  in  Hamadan, 
but  I  should  be  able  to  exert  no  influence  farther  north, 
and  there  would  be  nothing  to  prevent  Kasvin  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  Jangalis,  who  would  certainly  be  getting 
on  the  move  now  that  the  weather  showed  signs  of 
improvement. 

It  was  therefore  necessary  to  tempt  him  to  throw 
in  his  lot  entirely  with  us,  and  to  draw  up  an  agreement 
that  would  be  advantageous  to  both  of  us.  After  many 
discussions  on  the  various  points  we  finally  settled  on 
the  following  terms  : 

1.  That  he  would  not  withdraw  his  troops  from  Persia 

till  I  could  replace  them  with  our  own  troops. 

2.  That  I  would  assist  him  financially,  as  he  had  great 

difficulty  in  paying  his  men,  but  that  he  was  in 
no  sense    a  mercenary,  would  accept  no  money 


78     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

for  any  service  performed  but  only  for  expenses 
actually  incurred  for  military  operations. 

3.  That  neither  would  undertake  operations  without 

consulting  the  other,  and  that  any  financial 
assistance  from  the  British  Government  would 
cease  if  he  undertook  operations  not  in 
accordance  with  the  general  plans  of  the  Allies. 

4.  That  the  first  operation  to  be  undertaken  would 

be  an  attack  on  Kuchik  Khan's  army  and  the 
clearing  of  the  road  from  Kasvin  to  the 
Caspian. 

5.  That  if  he  would  fall  in  with  my  plans  in  Persia, 

we  would  try  to  evolve  a  mutual  plan  for 
later  operations  in  the  Caucasus,  where  my 
assistance  to  him  would  be  as  valuable  as  his 
to  me. 

This  excellent  agreement  had  no  sooner  been  drawn  up 
than  an  opportunity  occurred  of  testing  its  value.  On 
March  23rd  we  received  reliable  information  that  the 
Jangalis  were  preparing  to  march  on  Kasvin  and  that 
Kasvin  was  preparing  to  welcome  them.  They  were 
now  holding  all  the  strong  points  on  the  Resht  road  and 
had  entrenched  themselves  in  a  position  to  cover  the 
Menjil  bridge  and  close  the  road  to  all  traffic. 

On  March  24th  we  pushed  oJBf  a  small  detachment 
of  Cossacks  to  Kasvin,  and  the  remainder  moving  by 
route  march  reached  that  town  in  the  nick  of  time. 
Kuchik  Khan's  scheme  was  for  the  moment  thwarted 
and  Kasvin  saved.  The  situation  there  had  become  so 
critical  that  the  bank  had  had  orders  to  close,  and  all 
officials  to  withdraw.  The  bank  at  Resht  had  been 
looted ;  the  bank  manager,  Mr.  Oakshot,  and  the  British 
Consul,  Mr.  Maclaren,  had  both  been  arrested  and  were 
now  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  Jangalis.  Captain 
Noel,  endeavouring  to  reach  me  with  dispatches    from 


AN  ALLIANCE   OF  PHANTOMS  79 

Tiflis,  also  fell  into  their  hands.  The  two  former  were 
allowed  a  certain  amount  of  freedom  and  escaped  to 
Enzeli  after  some  months'  captivity ;  the  latter,  however, 
was  treated  with  great  rigour  from  the  first  and  was 
kept  a  prisoner  for  five  months  until  released  under  the 
terms  of  peace  made  after  the  defeat  of  the  Jangalis.  He 
had  made  several  attempts  to  escape,  being  thwarted 
in  each  case  by  sheer  bad  luck,  and  each  unsuccessful 
attempt  resulted  in  increased  severity  in  his  treatment 
which,  without  going  into  details,  was  far  from  being 
in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  though 
Kuchik  always  maintained  that  in  such  matters  he  was 
on  a  par  with  European  nations. 

It  would  now  be  possible  for  Bicherakov  to  move 
forward  on  the  Menjil  road  and  he  was  anxious  to  do  so. 
As  I  had  as  yet  no  troops  to  put  up  behind  him  this  would 
have  left  me  in  a  very  bad  position,  and  I  was  able  to 
make  him  defer  his  departure  by  the  promise  of  aeroplanes 
and  armoured  cars  to  support  his  move  if  he  would  only 
wait  another  week.  In  this  way  I  was  able  to  keep  him 
hanging  on  for  ten  weeks,  by  which  time  the  needed  troops 
had  arrived  and  the  scheme  was  brought  to  a  success- 
ful issue.  Those  ten  weeks  were  not  a  very  happy  time 
for  either  of  us,  and  we  got  dangerously  near  to  what 
are  politely  called  "  mutual  recriminations." 

A  suggestion  that  Persian  levies  and  irregulars  should 
be  raised  was  at  once  taken  up  and  added  considerably 
to  the  heavy  tasks  which  fell  on  the  small  number  of 
officers  available.  It  was  decided  therefore  to  get  up 
a  second  batch  of  officers  and  N.C.O.'s. 

My  present  duties  were  now  defined  as  being  to  take 
energetic  and  immediate  measures  to  frustrate  enemy 
penetration  through  North- West  Persia.  We  had  already 
had  considerable  success  on  these  lines,  and  a  rather 
valuable  Austrian  army  officer  fell  into  our  hands  on 
March   21st.     He  was  captured  through  the  agency  of 


80     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

the  Cossacks,  together  with  a  Turkish  sergeant  who  was 
acting  as  his  guide  and  interpreter.  The  officer  was  dis- 
guised as  a  Persian  lady,  but  his  height  and  gait  aroused 
suspicion,  while  the  Turkish  sergeant  was  more  easily 
disguised  as  a  Persian  peasant,  and  could  have  passed 
muster  if  alone.  The  only  special  request  the  Austrian 
had  to  make  was  that  he  might  be  given  some  European 
bread  to  eat,  and  he  was  astonished  and  disgusted  to 
hear  that  we  had  been  eating  "  Sangak  "  ourselves  for 
two  months  and  had  nothing  else  to  offer  him  :  a  week 
later  we  could  have  given  him  the  treat  he  asked  for, 
when  our  famous  bakery  had  got  under  way. 

In  the  surrounding  villages  some  drilling  was  going 
on  at  this  time  under  Turkish  instructors.  This  was 
all  part  of  the  scheme  to  exterminate  our  party,  and 
we  took  steps  to  interfere  with  these  parades  ;  not  that 
they  seemed  likely  to  result  in  anything  very  serious  for 
a  considerable  time  at  least,  but  the  actual  drilling  of 
well-armed  men  is  certainly  getting  nearer  to  action  than 
the  passing  of  resolutions  to  which  the  plotters  had 
hitherto  confined  themselves. 

Famine  relief  had  already  commenced  and  was  begin- 
ning to  work  well ;  a  description  of  the  work  undertaken 
will  be  given  in  a  later  chapter.  The  evidences  of  famine 
were  terrible,  and  in  a  walk  through  the  town  one  was 
confronted  with  the  most  awful  sights.  Nobody  could 
endure  such  scenes  if  he  were  not  endowed  with  the 
wonderful  apathy  of  the  Oriental :  "  It  is  the  will  of 
God  !  "  So  the  people  die  and  no  one  makes  any  effort 
to  help,  and  a  dead  body  in  the  road  lies  unnoticed  until 
an  effort  to  secure  some  sort  of  burial  becomes  unavoid- 
able. I  passed  in  a  main  thoroughfare  the  body  of  a 
boy  of  about  nine  years  of  age  who  had  evidently  died 
during  the  day  ;  he  lay  with  his  face  buried  in  the  mud, 
and  the  people  passed  by  on  either  side  as  if  he  were 
merely  any  ordinary  obstruction  in  the  roadway. 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  81 

Spring  was  now  beginning  to  show  signs  of  its  advent, 
but  on  April  1st  down  came  the  snow  again  and  for  a 
time  winter  regained  the  supremacy.  It  was  not  possible 
to  dispense  with  fires  till  May. 

On  this  day  we  really  thought  that  the  expected 
climax  had  actually  arrived.  Breathless  messengers  from 
the  town  brought  the  news  that  the  people  were  taking 
up  arms,  and  the  Governor  himself  was  issuing  rifles 
and  ammunition  to  the  mob  with  orders  to  destroy  the 
English.  This  was  very  much  like  the  real  thing,  and  we 
prepared  for  our  destruction.  But  investigation  proved 
that  the  alarm  was  false  and  the  occurrence  was  of  quite 
another  nature.  As  I  was  by  this  time  a  firm  friend  of 
the  Governor  I  could  not  believe  that  he  would  behave 
quite  so  treacherously.  It  is  a  good  maxim  to  trust  no 
one  in  war  time,  and  I  never  trusted  my  Persian  friends 
to  the  extent  of  relaxing  all  precautions,  but  I  always 
found  that  the  measure  of  trust  I  considered  judicious 
was  never  betrayed. 

In  fact  all  that  had  happened  was  that  a  Persian 
Cossack  had  been  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  the  Governor. 
Bicherakov's  Cossacks  got  the  idea  that  it  was  one  of 
their  comrades  who  had  been  confined,  galloped  into 
the  town  and  prepared  to  storm  the  prison.  This  was 
too  much  even  for  the  very  yielding  Governor,  who 
quite  rightly  met  the  situation  by  arming  his  men  and 
proceeding  to  defy  the  Cossacks.  A  conflict  was  only 
avoided  by  the  arrival  of  General  Baratov,  who  called 
a  truce,  examined  into  the  facts  of  the  case  and  per- 
suaded the  Cossacks  to  return  to  their  quarters. 

On  April  3rd  General  Byron  arrived  with  the  second 
party,  a  very  welcome  addition  of  twenty  officers  and 
as  many  N.C.O.'s  to  our  little  force.  The  party  were 
well  selected  and  included  Captain  Donohoe,  the  well- 
known  war  correspondent,  who  was  doubly  welcome  on 
account  of  his  knowledge  of  Russian,  and  Captain  Eve, 

T 


82     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

equally  a  Russian  scholar,  of  the  Royal  Engineers,  a 
service  so  far  unrepresented  in  our  small  detachment. 
Another  useful  addition  was  Lieutenant  Akbar,  a  Persian 
gentleman  with  business  connections  in  England,  whose 
services  proved  of  the  greatest  value. 

Looking  back  on  our  first  passage  through  these 
mountain  defiles,  I  never  cease  to  marvel  at  the  fact 
that  while  travelling  on  the  road  from  Baghdad  to  Enzeli 
and  thence  back  to  Hamadan,  only  one  single  shot  was 
fired  at  the  party.  The  Russians  did  not  fare  so  well, 
and  always  ran  into  trouble.  A  motor  lorry  containing 
six  Russians  was  ambushed  near  Hamadan  at  the  end 
of  March  and  all  the  occupants  killed.  Another  car  was 
attacked  beyond  the  Sultan  Bulaq  Pass  and  three  oflficials 
killed,  and  a  third  attack  on  a  motor  lorry  at  the  foot 
of  the  pass  was  successfully  beaten  off. 

I  do  not  think  that  this  necessarily  showed  excessive 
hostility  to  the  Russians  as  compared  with  ourselves, 
but  more  perhaps  the  utter  neglect  of  precautions  which 
was  characteristic  of  the  former's  happy-go-lucky  methods. 
The  same  tragedies  continued  to  be  enacted  on  the  Enzeli 
road  till  the  last  of  the  Russians  had  gone.  Lorries  were 
continually  being  held  up  and  burnt  and  the  occupants 
killed,  whereas  with  the  exception  of  the  casualties  involved 
in  actual  fighting,  we  never  lost  a  car  or  a  man  on 
the  road  throughout  the  whole  period  of  our  occupation. 

A  small  detachment  of  the  1/4  Hants  Territorial 
Infantry,  consisting  of  thirty  rifles,  joined  our  force  at 
Hamadan  at  the  end  of  March,  and  on  the  same  day 
the  first  aeroplane  arrived  from  Baghdad.  The  former 
though  not  a  large  body  of  troops  was  quite  a  formidable 
addition,  as  things  go  in  Persia,  and  was  promptly 
reported  to  Teheran  as  being  a  whole  battalion ;  the  latter 
produced  a  moral  effect  that  was  of  more  value  than 
many  troops.  It  was  an  unmistakable  sign  of  strength 
and    suggested   the    proximity    of    the    Baghdad    army. 


AN  ALLIANCE  OF  PHANTOMS  83 

Neither  the  Russians  nor  the  Turks  had  been  able  to  use 
aeroplanes  in  these  parts,  and  the  effect  of  our  aeroplane 
was  much  enhanced  by  its  novelty. 

The  news  of  the  arrival  of  numerous  aeroplanes  and 
the  battalion  of  infantry  had  a  good  effect  in  the  distant 
capital,  where  enemy  propaganda  had  lately  been 
running  with  great  vigour  and  had  resulted  in  various 
disturbances  and  the  holding  of  the  usual  anti-British 
meetings.  The  position  of  the  British  Legation  was  very 
precarious. 

The  Persian  Government  now  made  a  rather  clever 
move.     Seeing  that  by  our  alliance  with  Bicherakov  we 
had   secured   Kasvin   and   had  thwarted  the   movement 
of  Kuchik  Khan,  and  that  such  an  alliance  was  likely 
to  be  most  beneficial  to  our  cause,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  separate  us  from  the  Russians.     A  peremptory  message 
was  sent  to  Bicherakov  ordering  him  to  remove  his  troops 
at   once   from   Persia,   in   accordance   with   the   previous 
agreement  between  the  Russian  and  Persian  authorities, 
under  which  the  former  had  promised  to  evacuate  Persia 
by  a  date  already  far  past.     Dire  threats  were  made  as 
to  what  would  happen  if  there  were  any  further  delay 
in   compliance   with   this   order.     But  it   did   not  result 
in    any    hastening    of    the    withdrawal,    Bicherakov    ex- 
plaining   that    he    was    getting    along    as  quickly  as    he 
could,  and  was  only  delayed  by  the  presence  of  Kuchik 
Khan's  troops  on  the  road. 

The  mission  now  began  to  assume  quite  an  inter- 
national character,  being  joined  by  three  French  ofl&cers. 
These  officers  were  on  their  way  under  Colonel  Chardigny 
to  join  the  French  mission  in  the  Caucasus,  but  attached 
themselves  to  me  till  they  could  get  a  chance  of  reaching 
their  destination.  Two  of  them  later  returned  to  France, 
leaving  with  us  Lieutenant  Poidebard,  an  excellent 
fellow,  who  remained  with  us  from  this  time  onwards 
until  the  fall  of  Baku. 


84     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Several  cases  occurred  of  officers  being  shot  at,  but 
without  casualties,  the  firers  preferring  to  keep  a  good 
distance  away,  and  they  were  not  at  all  good  at  long 
shots.  The  only  case  of  shooting  at  close  quarters  was 
where  a  Persian  drew  his  revolver  on  an  officer,  but  the 
latter  was  fairly  handy  with  his  weapon  and  got  in  his 
shot  first.  With  the  exception  of  these  few  instances 
there  were  no  attempts  at  violence,  and  the  town  began 
to  look  on  us  as  permanent,  and  not  at  all  unwelcome, 
residents. 


I 


CHAPTER    VI 
WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS 

THINGS  were  much  more  plain  sailing  from  the 
latter  end  of  March,  when  the  Russian  troops  had 
completed  their  evacuation  and  Bicherakov  and  ourselves 
had  a  clear  ground  to  work  on. 

The  agreement  we  had  entered  into  was  very  sound 
as  long  as  it  lasted,  but  there  was  always  the  risk  that 
the  impatience  of  the  Cossacks  to  get  back  to  their  homes 
in  the  North  Caucasus  might  lead  to  their  breaking  away 
from  us.  They  were  already  chafing  at  the  delay,  and  I 
knew  it  would  be  many  weeks  yet  before  their  further 
move  towards  the  Caspian  would  suit  our  plans.  It 
seemed  very  doubtful  whether  we  should  be  able  to  hold 
them  till  our  troops  were  up. 

In  any  case,  in  the  absence  of  our  troops,  although 
the  Persians  estimated  my  body  of  twelve  officers,  two 
clerks  and  forty-one  chauffeurs  with  one  armoured  car 
and  thirty  soldiers  as  representing  several  thousand  troops, 
it  was  obviously  not  possible  to  conduct  operations  with 
this  phantom  army,  and  active  operations  would  soon  be 
necessary.  It  was  clearly  a  case  of  the  Cossacks  or 
nothing. 

In  describing  the  various  phases  through  which  the 
work  of  the  mission  passed  at  this  time,  it  is  difficult  to 
adhere  to  an  exact  sequence.  We  were  simultaneously 
engaged  in  so  many  parallel  tasks  that  it  is  only  possible 

86 


86     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

to  make  the  situation  clear  by  devoting  separate  chapters 
to  each  phase.  These  chapters  therefore  do  not  describe 
events  following  one  another,  but  events  actually  taldng 
place  concurrently. 

Thus  in  the  last  chapter  I  endeavoured  to  set  forth 
the  situation  as  between  the  Russians  and  ourselves. 
In  this  chapter  we  must  hark  back  to  the  time  of  our 
first  arrival  in  Hamadan  in  order  to  explain  our  relations 
with  the  Persians. 

As  soon  as  it  became  apparent  that  our  stay  in 
Hamadan  might  be  prolonged,  I  set  out  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  all  the  officials,  the  landowners,  the 
politicians  and  the  merchants.  The  numerous  visits 
and  return  visits  constituted  a  somewhat  arduous 
task,  but  the  experience  was  on  the  whole  enjoyable. 
Certainly  the  Persians  have  no  monopoly  of  the  virtues, 
neither  have  they  of  the  vices.  They  make  very  poor 
soldiers  in  these  degenerate  days,  but  the  most  pugnacious 
people  are  not  necessarily  the  most  amiable,  and  I  see 
no  reason  why  the  Persian  should  be  despised  because  he 
has  adopted  a  line  of  philosophy  which  regards  fighting 
as  an  anachronism  and  prefers  the  tongue  to  the  sword. 
The  Chinaman  divides  his  nation  into  two  classes,  the 
braves  and  the  non-braves,  and  the  Persian  follows  much 
the  same  line  of  thought.  Certain  classes,  such  as  high- 
way robbers,  make  a  profession  of  being  brave  and  have 
to  live  up  to  it  (though  they  don*t !) ;  others  openly 
profess  not  to  be  brave  and  are  consequently  not  expected 
to  encounter,  but  rather  to  flee  from,  danger.  "  I  drew 
the  feet  of  security  under  the  skirt  of  contentment  "  is 
a  Persian  phrase  that  expresses  the  feeling  quite  neatly. 

In  my  earlier  calls  I  was  very  kindly  conducted  by 
the  British  Consul,  Mr.  MacDowell,  who  interpreted  and 
advised  me  on  points  of  etiquette.  Our  first  visit  was 
of  course  to  the  Governor,  Nizam-es-Sultan,  an  ultra 
extreme  democrat  as  far  as  political  nomenclature  went, 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS  87 

but  otherwise  an  aristocrat  in  ideas  and  tendencies.  He 
was  renowned  as  being  so  "  ultra  extreme  '*  that  his  views 
were  practically  anarchical,  and  altogether  he  promised 
to  be  a  very  difficult  person  to  tackle.  It  was  for  March 
3rd  that  our  visit  had  been  fixed,  and  at  4.30  p.m.  on  that 
date  we  arrived  at  the  Governor's  residence,  where  we 
were  received  by  a  general  salute  from  the  police  guard 
and  escorted  to  the  room  of  audience  by  a  uniformed 
retainer. 

Captain  Saunders,  and  Captain  Dunning,  my  A.D.C., 
accompanied  me,  the  former,  who  had  served  in  Seistan, 
possessing  some  knowledge  of  Persian  and  being  quite 
in  his  element  in  visits  of  this  kind. 

We  received  a  polite  and  frigid  shake  of  the  hand 
from  the  Governor  who,  after  introducing  his  friend  Haji 
Saad-es-Sultaneh,  the  special  delegate  for  Russian  affairs, 
begged  us  to  be  seated  and  ordered  tea  to  be  served. 

Nizam-es- Sultan  was  a  nice-looking  Persian  gentleman 
of  about  thirty-five  years  of  age  with  the  polished  manners 
of  Teheran  society  ;  his  companion  was  a  good-looking 
man  about  ten  years  older,  who  had  travelled  much  in 
Europe,  spoke  French  fluently  and  had  adopted  European 
manners  and,  with  the  exception  of  headdress,  European 
costume. 

Some  time  was  absorbed  in  the  usual  inane  remarks 
of  polite  society.  The  Governor  remarked  that  there 
had  been  a  lot  of  snow,  to  which  one  could  but  assent, 
and  that  there  would  very  likely  be  more,  to  which 
probability  I  equally  agreed. 

On  my  part  I  spoke  of  deaths  from  famine  and 
deplored  the  uncertainty  of  life,  commenting  also  on  the 
execrable  nature  of  the  road  between  here  and  Asadabad. 
This  brought  us  immediately  out  of  inanities  into  realities. 
The  Governor  at  once  woke  up  and  fired  off  a  volley  of 
questions  at  me. 

"  Was  the  road  really  very  bad  ?  " 


88     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

**  Where  had  we  come  from  ?  " 

**  Why  had  we  come  ?  '* 

"  How  many  men  were  there  in  the  party  ?  " 

With  the  exception  of  the  last,  these  questions  were 
easy  to  answer,  but  this  demand  for  information  was 
rather  disconcerting  though  easily  warded  off  with  a 
good  square  lie  ;  but  in  this  instance  I  was  able  to  answer 
that  there  were  "  quite  a  lot,  and  a  lot  more  coming 
and  then  lots  more." 

In  order  to  prevent  a  pursuance  of  this  embarrassing 
theme  and  fearing  to  be  asked  for  a  precise  definition 
of  the  meaning  of  the  word  *'  lot,"  I  now  switched  off 
the  conversation  on  to  Kuchik  Khan,  a  topic  which 
immediately  caused  the  inquiries  as  to  our  numbers  to  be 
put  aside.  "  Excellent  fellow  this  Mirza  Kuchik  Khan," 
I  said,  "  I  rather  like  him,  although  so  far  he  and  I  have 
not  quite  agreed  about  things  ;  but  that  is  only  because 
we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  meet  and  talk.  If  we  could 
meet  I  am  sure  he  would  find  we  had  nothing  to  disagree 
about.  I  suppose  your  Excellency  is  in  sympathy  with 
him  ?  " 

This  brought  forth  the  pained  and  indignant  denial 
I  had  expected,  but  a  denial  that  did  not  convince  me. 
The  intentionally  abrupt  introduction  of  the  subject 
had  taken  him  rather  off  his  guard,  and  there  was  a 
hesitation  in  his  manner  that  indicated  a  mind  not 
altogether  innocent.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  he 
was  not  of  those  who  had  actually  thrown  in  their 
lot  with  the  Jangali  movement,  but  was  among  the 
wiser  ones  who  were  waiting  to  see  which  way  the 
wind  blew. 

The  other  official  joined  in  the  conversation  and  tried 
to  get  various  admissions  out  of  me,  but  I  trust  he  drew 
a  blank,  and  as  this  was  only  an  official  call  I  made  a 
point  of  withdrawing  early,  which  put  an  end  to  any 
further  cross-examination. 


WE  GET  TO   KNOW   OUR  HOSTS  89 

I  am  sure  that  the  British  residents  of  Hamadan  will 
smile  when  I  say  that  I  took  a  great  liking  to  Nizam-es- 
Sultan,  their  point  of  view  and  mine  not  being  likely  to 
be  the  same.  Their  first  objection  to  him  would  be  that, 
though  a  Governor,  he  did  not  govern.  But  the  question 
arises  are  Persian  Governors  meant  to  govern  ?  In  no 
case  among  my  many  acquaintances  with  Governors  was 
there  any  indication  of  a  serious  effort  to  govern  in  our 
meaning  of  the  word.  They  represent  government,  and 
their  real  function  begins  and  ends  with  that.  To  take 
actual  examples,  at  a  time  like  the  present  the  question 
of  famine  relief  should  be  the  first  step  of  a  Governor. 
Was  there  one  in  Persia  who  even  mildly  interested  him- 
self in  it  ?  At  all  times  the  question  of  sanitation  is  a 
vital  one.  Is  there  a  Persian  Governor  in  the  whole 
kingdom  who  cares  twopence  for  it  ?  No  !  My  friend 
was  all  he  should  be  according  to  Persian  lights,  a  nice 
gentleman  and  a  charming  representative  of  Teheran, 
but  he  did  not  govern  ! 

Other  visits  followed,  to  the  Kar-guzar,  and  to  the 
chief  landowner,  Amir  Afgham,  the  former  a  pleasant 
fellow,  hating  his  enforced  residence  in  a  dull  provincial 
town  and  never  ceasing  to  regret  his  inability  to  get  a 
decent  game  of  Poker.  This  regret  was  shared  by  the 
Governor,  and  both  prayed  fervently  for  a  transfer  to 
Teheran,  where  they  could  taste  again  the  delights  of 
society  in  that  gay  capital  and  play  Poker  to  their 
hearts*  content. 

But  the  other.  Amir  Afgham,  was  a  very  fine  type  of 
the  Persian  country  gentleman,  a  little  man  about  sixty 
years  of  age,  hale  and  hearty,  with  a  boisterous  laugh  that 
could  be  heard  half  a  mile  away  ;  enormously  wealthy 
and,  as  is  usual  with  very  wealthy  people,  always  very 
hard  up.  He  was  quite  naturally  a  great  hater  of  demo- 
crats and  politicians  generally  and  of  the  Governor 
especially.     At  the  time  of  our  visit  he  had  the  Deputy 


90      THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Governor  staying  with  him,  and  the  latter  was  present 
while  we  conversed.  It  was  another  insight  into  Persian 
affairs  to  hear  the  old  man  revile  the  Governor  in  the 
most  biting  terms,  while  the  Governor's  right-hand  man 
sat  there  and  applauded. 

The  real  cause  of  the  Amir's  indignation  was  that  the 
Governor  had,  in  the  routine  performance  of  his  duties, 
demanded  from  him  the  payment  of  very  considerable 
arrears  of  taxes.  The  taxes  were  undoubtedly  legitimate 
and  very  much  in  arrears  ;  but  to  demand  them  seemed 
so  very  uncourteous  !  Such  forgivable  lapses  of  memory 
ought  not  to  be  drawn  attention  to,  and  the  old  gentle- 
man resisted  the  tax  collectors  by  force  of  arms,  the 
incident  ending,  as  such  incidents  fortunately  do 
in  Persia,  without  bloodshed.  And  the  taxes  remained 
unpaid. 

To  see  the  Deputy  Governor  heartily  sympathizing 
with  the  wicked  old  man  in  this  flouting  of  authority 
enabled  me  to  realize  the  difficulty  of  a  Persian  Governor's 
really  governing.  Perhaps,  after  all,  the  Persian  system 
of  letting  things  take  their  own  course  is  as  good  as  any 
other. 

The  Persian  point  of  view  was  set  forth  in  the  reply 
to  my  printed  proclamation,  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken — "  Our  methods  may  be  deplorable,  but  they  are 
our  own  ;  they  suit  us,  and  we  don't  want  yours,  which 
don't  suit  us." 

My  visit  to  the  Amir  certainly  threw  a  new  light  on 
the  question  of  a  Governor's  position.  You  may  abuse 
him  for  not  governing,  but  it  must  be  a  hard  task  to 
administer  public  affairs  when  the  biggest  man  in  the 
neighbourhood  defies  your  authority  and  resists  by  armed 
force  your  attempts  to  enforce  it,  while  your  assistant 
sides  so  strongly  with  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble  that 
he  severs  all  connection  with  you  and  goes  to  live  with 
the  enemy. 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS  91 

Incidentally  it  was  gratifying  to  realize  how  such 
Gilbertian  situations  strengthened  our  otherwise  weak 
position  in  Hamadan. 

The  old  Amir  did  not  put  me  to  any  very  severe 
cross-examination;  he  seemed  rather  glad  than  otherwise 
at  the  prospect  of  British  troops  coming  to  this  part  of 
Persia.  He  felt  that  any  rule  would  be  preferable  to  the 
rule  of  democrats,  who  paid  little  respect  to  his  position 
and  had  the  effrontery  to  suggest  the  payment  of  his 
arrears  of  taxes. 

A  few  days  after  these  visits  the  return  calls  began. 
The  Governor,  the  Kar-guzar  and  Haji  Saad-es-Sultaneh 
arrived  in  due  state  with  official  escorts,  and  the  conversa- 
tion this  time  was  not  quite  so  frigidly  formal ;  the  ice 
was  beginning  to  thaw.  The  Amir  called  with  a  most 
imposing  retinue,  including  a  handsome  pony  led  by  a 
retainer  carrying  only  his  pipe  and  tobacco  and  a  brazier 
of  lighted  charcoal,  the  latter  looking  rather  an  un- 
comfortable load  for  a  fidgety  pony  ;  but  perhaps  sad 
experience  had  taught  the  tobacco  pony  not  to  fidget. 
During  this  time  the  other  officers  were  getting  into  touch 
Avith  minor  officials  in  the  town,  and  famine  relief  work 
had  already  begun  brought  us  into  contact  with  all 
classes,  so  that  by  the  end  of  the  month  we  formed  an 
integral  and  indispensable  part  of  local  society. 

But  the  cross-examination  of  myself  and  my  Staff 
continued  with  unabated  vigour  and  was  becoming 
insupportable.  I  knew  the  sort  of  telegrams  the  Governor 
and  others  were  receiving  from  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
ordering  them  at  all  costs  to  discover  the  exact  strength 
of  the  British  detachment,  so  I  could  hardly  blame  them 
for  making  some  sort  of  a  show  to  carry  out  their  orders. 
My  studies  in  Persian  were  progressing  famously,  and  a 
renewal  of  my  early  acquaintance  with  the  "  Gulistan  " 
of  Sa'adi  proved  of  great  value  to  me  in  the  fencing 
matches  that  ensued. 


92      THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

It  is  a  marvellous  thing  that  while  all  Persians  are 
brought  up  on  the  wisdom  of  Sa'adi  and  other  deep  and 
attractive  thinkers  (and  there  is  not  a  problem  in  life 
that  has  not  its  solution  in  the  writings  of  these  poets), 
they  read  them  and  quote  them  and  are  never  guided 
by  them.  They  look  feebly  for  enlightenment  to  the 
West,  when  all  that  we  have  worth  knowing,  except 
modern  science,  we  have  got  from  the  East. 

In  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  *'Gulistan"  I  found 
what  I  was  looking  for,  a  quotation  that  I  could  learn 
by  heart  and  which  would  shield  me  from  the  shower 
of  embarrassing  questions  that  the  Governor  made  a 
point  of  putting  me  at  each  interview. 

I  finally  protested  on  these  lines :  **  My  visits  to  you 
and  yours  to  me  are  a  source  of  undiluted  pleasure  to  me, 
but  I  do  not  think  that  we  conduct  our  conversations 
on  proper  or  fair  lines.  I  talk  to  you  of  the  weather, 
the  crops,  the  pleasures  of  life,  the  uncertainty  of  existence 
and  the  ultimate  destiny  of  mankind.  Your  conversation 
on  the  other  hand  consists  of  a  series  of  oft-repeated  and 
most  uninteresting  questions,  such  as  :  How  many  troops 
have  you  got  ?  How  many  rifles  have  they  ?  How  many 
rounds  per  rifle  ?  How  many  more  are  coming  ?  When 
will  they  arrive  ?  Where  are  they  now  ?  Conversation 
on  such  lines  is  extremely  wearisome  to  me,  and  must 
be  equally  so  to  you.  I  could  quite  easily  answer  all 
your  questions  by  telling  you  lies,  because  obviously  my 
Government  does  not  expect  me  to  lay  bare  official  secrets, 
but  I  have  a  great  objection  to  telling  lies,  and  in  that 
respect  I  may  represent  a  type  quite  new  to  you  ;  but 
I  repeat  that  falsehood  is  most  repugnant  to  me.  I  might, 
according  to  the  well-known  Persian  saying,  wrap  up 
my  principles  in  the  napkin  of  oblivion,  but  I  prefer  not 
to  do  this.  In  answer  therefore  to  all  questions  you  have 
so  far  put  to  me  and  intend  to  put  to  me  in  the  future, 
I  give  you  the  following  quotation  from  Sa'adi : 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS  08 

Not  every  secret  that  one  has  in  one's  heart 

Should  one  reveal  to  the  best  of  friends — 

God  knows,  he  may  be  an  enemy  to-morrow  ! 

And  not  every  possible  injury 

Should  one  do  to  an  enemy — 

God  knows,  he  may  be  a  friend  to-morrow  ! 

This  settled  finally  the  irritating  cross-examinations, 
and  I  was  never  really  bothered  by  them  again.  Now 
and  then  in  response  to  a  peremptory  order  from  Teheran, 
a  fitful  effort  was  made  to  revive  the  old  process,  but  it 
was  not  even  necessary  to  produce  the  quotation;  it 
suJBficed  to  say  "  Eighth  Chapter,"  and  with  a  smile  my 
interlocutors  turned  to  brighter  themes. 

It  is  not  to  be  imagined  that  my  unassisted  Persian 
would  run  to  these  flights  of  eloquence.  The  conversation 
was  sustained  partly  by  the  combined  efforts  in  Persian 
of  Captain  Saunders  and  myself,  partly  by  means  of  the 
Consul  or  Mr.  McMurray  acting  as  interpreter,  and  partly 
by  making  use  of  French  in  addressing  the  Haji. 

Our  friendship  with  the  local  notables  was  now  firmly 
established,  and  bore  ripe  and  luscious  fruits  for  both 
sides.  The  monetary  basis,  which  is  the  ordinary,  useful, 
but  sordid  method  of  gaining  one's  ends,  was  entirely 
absent  from  our  relations,  and  though  when  any  kindly 
act  was  done,  the  other  politicians  invariably  scented 
a  bribe,  I  can  truthfully  say  that  whatever  was  done  to 
help  us  at  this  time  was  done  without  any  recourse  to 
money  payments. 

I  can  give  an  example,  however,  from  our  dealings 
with  an  official,  not  mentioned  by  name,  which  occurred 
in  another  town  at  another  time. 

This  official  was  a  great  personal  friend  of  mine,  and 
showed  the  reality  of  his  feelings  in  a  very  marked  way. 
The  question  of  obtaining  supplies  at  the  time  of  which 
I  am  speaking,  was  becoming  one  of  daily  increasing 
difficulty. 


94      THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

On  a  certain  morning  I  was  made  aware  of  the  fact 
that  a  cipher  telegram  from  a  person  in  high  authority 
had  been  delivered  to  the  official  in  question.  And  it 
was  also  made  known  to  me  that  the  contents  of  the 
telegram  were  as  follows  :  "  You  are  to  see  that  the  British 
get  no  more  supplies  of  any  sort.  All  their  contractors 
are  at  once  to  be  imprisoned."  This  looked  as  if  we 
might  expect  rather  more  active  opposition  in  the  matter 
of  obtaining  supplies,  but  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
**  wait  and  see."  We  had  not  long  to  wait  before  we 
saw. 

The  first  report  I  got  was  from  the  Supply  Officer, 
who  informed  me  that  supplies  promised  for  delivery 
that  morning  had  not  turned  up.  This  was  soon  followed 
by  a  wail  from  families  bereft  of  their  breadwinners  to 
the  effect  that  the  heads  of  the  families  who  were  our 
contractors  had  been  thrown  into  a  dungeon. 

An  urgent  message  was  sent  to  the  official  asking  for 
an  explanation,  and  begging  for  a  release  of  the  men. 
This  drew  forth  a  reply  couched  in  polite  but  severe 
language  stating  that  the  men  had  been  arrested  on 
certain  charges  and  could  not  be  released. 

Now  was  the  time  for  choosing  between  two 
diametrically  opposite  lines  of  action.  Should  we  parade 
the  twelve  officers,  two  clerks  and  forty-one  drivers 
and  endeavour  to  rescue  our  contractors  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet,  or  should  we  put  our  friendship  to  the 
test  and  see  if  our  friends  would  act  up  to  their 
professions  ?  The  latter  course  commended  itself  to 
me,  and  I  set  forth  with  a  Staff  Officer  to  interview 
the  obstructive  official.  I  was  afraid  he  would  say  he 
was  ill  and  unable  to  see  me,  which  is  the  usual  Persian 
method  when  trouble  is  brewing  ;  I  took  it  as  a  good 
sign,  therefore,  when  we  were  admitted  without  hesita- 
tion to  his  residence  and  courteously  received  by 
him  in   his    most   severely   official    manner.     After    the 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS  »5 

usual  exchange  of  compliments  we  commenced  busi- 
ness by  my  asking  for  an  explanation  of  the  tyrannical 
treatment  of  my  contractors.  In  reply  I  received  the 
following  statement: 

"  With  regard  to  the  imprisonment  of  the  men  you 
refer  to,  I  regret  to  state  that  I  am  acting  under  orders 
which  in  my  official  capacity  I  am  bound  to  obey.  You 
may  not  believe  it,  but  I  will  tell  you  in  confidence  that 
I  have  just  received  explicit  orders  to  the  effect  that  every 
measure  is  to  be  taken  to  prevent  you  from  getting  supplies, 
and  your  contractors  are  to  be  forthwith  imprisoned  as 
a  first  step  to  giving  effect  to  this  decree.  Your  presence 
is  not  desired  in  Persia,  and  it  is  intended  to  make  your 
position  here  impossible.  Why  do  you  disturb  the  peace 
of  a  neutral  country  like  Persia  by  bringing  troops 
here  ? 

"  As  regards  the  imprisonment  of  the  contractors,"  I 
replied,  "  surely  it  is  not  possible  in  your  country  to  put 
men  in  prison  without  bringing  a  legal  charge  against 
them,  and  surely  there  is  no  law  in  this  land  prohibiting 
the  sale  of  grain  to  any  would-be  purchaser  !  " 

To  this  the  official  retorted,  "  You  do  not  know  our 
laws  and  you  are  not  therefore  competent  to  discuss 
them ;  they  do  not  resemble  yours.  I  am  ordered  to 
arrest  these  men  and  I  have  done  so." 

I  then  explained,  not  for  the  first  time,  that  as  to  the 
remark  regarding  our  presence  here  in  a  neutral  country, 
we  were  most  unwillingly  forced  into  that  position.  If 
Persia  would  keep  her  neutrality  there  would  be  no  need 
for  our  presence  here,  which  was  solely  necessitated  by 
the  activity  of  the  Germans  and  Turks  in  this  neutral 
country.  The  Persian  Government  seemed  to  acquiesce 
in  Turkish  occupation  and  German  intrigue,  and  to 
claim  the  laws  of  neutrality  only  as  regards  one  of  the 


96      THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

belligerents.  There  was  no  great  need  for  entering  on 
such  a  discussion  at  this  time  but  Orientals  do  not  like 
to  be  hurried,  and  it  is  polite  to  talk  a  little  round  your 
point  before  you  come  to  it.  So  after  interchanging  a 
few  more  opinions  on  these  general  subjects,  I  deemed 
it  time  to  work  back  to  the  original  point,  which  I 
did  in  these  words  :  ''I  am  grateful  to  you  for  your 
detailed  explanation  of  the  circumstances  leading  to 
the  present  trouble,  and  as  a  soldier  I  would  be  the 
last  person  to  suggest  disobedience  of  orders.  I  see 
that  the  course  you  have  adopted  was  the  only  one 
open  to  you  and  I  admire  the  promptness  of  your 
obedience.  You  have  now  fulfilled  your  duty,  and 
can  report  your  having  done  so,  with  a  clear  conscience, 
to  your  superiors.  That  quite  finally  settles  the  official 
side  of  this  interview  may  be  regarded  as  closed. 

**  Now  may  I  address  you  as  a  friend?  In  that  capacity 
I  feel  I  can  rely  upon  you  to  do  whatever  you  can  for  me 
personally.  So  far  our  friendship  has  consisted  of  words, 
not  deeds.  Were  those  words  sincere  ?  If  so,  translate 
them  into  deeds.  As  a  friend  therefore  I  beg  you  to 
release  all  the  contractors  at  once.  And,  as  a  friend,  I 
equally  trust  that  the  question  of  the  supplies  may  not 
be  made  too  difficult.'* 

The  happy  ending  to  this  annoying  episode  was  the 
release  of  the  offending  contractors  and  a  withdrawal  of 
all  obstruction  in  the  matter  of  supplies.  At  a  later 
meeting  I  congratulated  my  friend  on  his  ready  solution 
of  the  difficulty,  and  he  suggested  that  if  the  great  nations 
now  at  war  had  been  only  half  as  sensible  as  he  and  I 
were,  there  would  not  have  been  any  war.  Which  is 
a  fact. 

I  have  given  a  general  idea  of  what  I  may  call  the 
pleasant  meetings.  But  there  were  other  categories  which 
were  most  unpleasant,  those  with  the  leading  merchants, 
and  those  with  the  leading  politicians. 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS  97 

The  merchants  were  cheerful  and  effusive,  but  had 
none  of  the  charm  of  the  refined  Persian  gentleman,  and 
they  had  no  views  on  any  subject  outside  their  little 
business.  The  sentimental  business  man  is  a  type  not 
yet  developed,  more's  the  pity.  I  was  generally  able  to 
bring  an  uninteresting  meeting  with  such  gentry  to  an 
abrupt  close  by  referring  to  the  horrors  of  the  famine, 
and  suggesting  a  handsome  contribution  from  them  for 
the  purpose  of  famine  relief. 

The  politicians  were  mostly  men  of  humble  origin, 
some  genuine  idealists,  some  who  were  only  "  in  it  for 
what  they  could  get  out  of  it."  For  a  long  time  they 
fought  against  coming  to  my  tea-parties,  but  in  the  end 
they  were  brought  along  in  twos  and  threes  until  at  last 
the  uncompromising  leader  himself,  Ferid-ud-Dowleh,  was 
persuaded  to  put  in  an  appearance,  and  we  spent  a  most 
cheerful  afternoon  together.  The  extraordinary  diffi- 
culties involved  in  inducing  these  people  to  enter  into 
any  sort  of  relations,  even  purely  social,  with  their  avowed 
enemy,  was  chiefly  overcome  by  Mr.  Moir,  who  acted  as 
political  adviser  to  me,  and  with  a  great  command  of 
the  language  and  intimate  knowledge  of  Persian  customs 
was  able  to  work  wonders.  Mr.  Moir  had  been  working 
in  Persia  for  years  as  representative  of  a  large  business 
firm  and  also  in  the  capacity  of  Vice-Consul,  and  had  now 
thrown  in  his  lot  with  my  mission,  where  his  services 
continued  to  be  of  great  value  throughout  the  operations. 
I  was  also  very  greatly  helped  by  one  of  my  Persian 
friends. 

These  meetings  were  only  useful  as  helping  to  form 
an  estimate  of  character,  and  as  tending  to  abate  in  a 
very  small  degree  the  virulence  of  the  agitators.  I  had 
no  hope  or  desire  of  converting  the  conspirators,  but  I 
brought  them  to  a  frame  of  mind  which  rendered  them 
less  anxious  to  conspire. 

The  intelligence  office  under   Captain  Saunders   waa 

8 


98      THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

now  achieving  such  success  that  there  was  practically 
no  information  I  required  that  I  did  not  get.  In  all 
such  work  money  plays  a  great  part,  but  money  alone 
will  not  achieve  the  best  results  ;  there  has  to  be  a  good 
deal  of  inspiration  both  on  the  part  of  the  Staff  and  of 
the  people  they  employ,  and  a  very  complete  system 
of  counter-check  to  avoid  the  acceptance  of  false  or 
misleading  information. 

All  this  time  there  was  a  Turkish  Consul  just  a  hundred 
miles  away,  with  a  military  escort  strong  enough  to  wipe 
my  party  off  the  map  ;  but  the  fighting  spirit  had  quite 
left  the  Turks  since  the  fall  of  Baghdad,  and  with  his 
exaggerated  notion  of  my  strength  he  was  more  afraid 
of  me  than  I  was  of  him. 

This  official  was  naturally  in  touch  with  the  Turkish 
Legation  in  Teheran  and  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
money  in  telegraphing  to  them.  These  telegrams  had  to 
pass  through  Hamadan,  and  without  any  treachery  on 
the  part  of  the  telegraph  officials  we  secured  them  all. 
Some  were  in  plain  language  and  were  useful  to  us,  others 
were  in  a  cipher  of  which  we  did  not  yet  possess  the  key. 
The  result  of  our  manipulation  of  these  telegrams  was  a 
plaintive  appeal  sent  by  special  secret  messenger  from  the 
Turkish  Consul  to  the  head  of  the  telegraph  office  at 
Hamadan,  to  this  efPect :  "  What  has  happened  to  your 
office  ?  It  does  not  seem  to  be  working  properly.  I 
have  received  by  messenger  from  one  of  my  agents  the 
information  that  of  nine  telegrams  lately  sent  to  Teheran 
two  have  altogether  failed  to  reach,  and  the  seven  that 
reached  are  altogether  undecipherable.  The  fact  of  the 
two  being  missing  is  traceable  from  my  numbers.  Will 
you  please  be  more  careful  in  future."  One  might  have 
expected  the  Consul  to  have  guessed  the  answer  to  this 
very  easy  riddle  :    he  probably  solved  the  problem  later. 

With  such  a  complete  and  reliable  system  it  was  easy 
to  secure  documentary  evidence  of   the  state  of    mind 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW  OUR  HOSTS  99 

and  aims  of  the  local  Democratic  Committee,  headed 
by  Ferid-ud-Dowleh.  Their  correspondence  was  most 
enlightening  and  enabled  me  to  appreciate  the  local 
political  situation  with  accuracy.  Letters  passed 
almost  daily  between  the  leaders  and  Kuchik  Khan 
in  one  direction  and  between  them  and  the  Turkish 
Legation  on  the  other,  and  most  of  these  letters  passed 
through  my  hands. 

To  the  former  they  wrote  somewhat  in  this  strain: 
"  The  British  are  here,  but  in  very  small  numbers.  At 
a  sign  from  you  we  can  rise  and  destroy  them,  but  you 
should  send  some  of  your  soldiers  to  help  ;  we  have  not 
many  fighting  men  here,  and  the  British  are  well  armed. 
All  the  people  of  the  town  and  most  of  the  leaders  are 
heartily  in  your  favour,  and  we  only  await  your  signal. 
We  are  short  of  funds."  To  the  latter  they  wrote  :  "  The 
British  force  here  is  a  small  one.  We  hear  that  German 
troops  are  being  passed  through  Baku  by  the  Russians. 
When  they  come,  if  you  could  send  some  here,  we  could 
easily  destroy  the  small  British  garrison  and  all  the  other 
English  here.  Or  send  some  Turkish  troops.  We  do  all 
we  can  to  help  the  aims  of  the  Germans  and  yourselves 
and  are  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  to  lay  down  our  lives 
for  the  cause.  We  could  accomplish  more  if  we  had  more 
money."  These  letters  show  that  the  politicians  realized 
our  weakness  better  than  the  officials  did.  Their  common 
final  note  is  a  sear c Wight  on  Persian  politics. 

With  a  good  deal  of  such  information  at  my  disposal 
I  was  thoroughly  prepared  for  my  guests  at  the  afternoon 
tea-parties.  One  party  took  place  within  a  few  hours  of 
the  writing  and  dispatch  of  two  such  letters  as  the  above, 
and  I  was  privileged  to  read  these  letters  just  before  my 
guests  arrived.  After  a  considerable  discussion  of  such 
topics  as  the  weather  and  the  famine  I  changed  the  subject 
to  a  direct  inquiry  concerning  Kuchik  and  the  Turks. 
The  fact  that   my  guests  lied   to   me  is  of  course  not 


100    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

remarkable ;  had  they  been  the  most  upright  people 
in  the  world  they  could  not  have  been  expected  to  give 
truthful  answers  to  my  questions,  and  to  have  done  so 
would  have  been  to  betray  their  own  cause.  But  with 
letters  in  my  hand  containing  their  very  latest  expressions 
of  opinion,  their  falsehoods  were  distinctly  entertaining. 
It  would  have  been  still  more  amusing  had  I  confronted 
them  with  their  actual  letters  with  all  their  signatures 
attached.  There  were  occasions  later  when  it  paid  to 
do  this  ;  to  do  so  at  the  present  moment  would  be  to 
acquaint  them  with  the  fact  that  their  letters  were  falling 
into  our  hands,  which  would  at  once  dry  up  this  fount 
of  information. 

"  I  hear  a  great  deal,"  I  went  on,  "  in  the  shape  of 
rumours  in  the  town  of  your  hostility  to  my  mission  here. 
I  pay  no  attention  to  such  rumours,  but  of  course  we  have 
to  face  facts.  You  naturally  resent  our  presence  here  ; 
we  regret  that  it  is  unavoidable.  You  obviously  sym- 
pathize with  Kuchik  Khan  ;  why  shouldn't  you  ?  You 
are  democrats,  and  he  is  said  to  be  the  chief  of  democrats. 
But  you  might  remember  also  that  I  am  a  democrat,  in 
the  sense  that  I  represent  the  only  truly  democratic 
country  in  the  world,  and  in  a  way  I  sympathize  with 
Kuchik.  The  only  mistake  he  makes  is  in  making 
an  enemy  of  me  and  closing  the  road  to  the  Caspian  : 
that  will  in  the  end  get  him  into  trouble." 

Loud  murmurings  of  dissent  greeted  this  speech. 
"  What  baseless  rumours  !  what  fanciful  ideas  !  How 
could  we  possibly  sympathize  with  Kuchik  Khan,  who  is 
an  upstart  and  endeavouring  to  lead  a  revolution,  whereas 
we  represent  law  and  order." 

"  But  you  must  very  strongly  resent  our  intrusion 
here,  although  we  have  most  excellent  reasons  for  it, 
and  I  understand  from  placards  and  manifestoes  that 
you  intend  to  murder  us  all  in  our  beds.  The  Jangalis 
might  help  you  to  do  that."    More  protestations  of  inno- 


WE  GET  TO  KNOW*  OTJTR  HOISTS  ^^^'^tOI 

cence  ensued,  and  I  switched  off  on  to  the  question  of  their 
most  right  and  justifiable  love  for  the  Germans  and  the 
Turks.  "  The  great  advantage  of  having  the  German 
or  Turks,  or  both,  here  in  preference  to  ourselves  is  that 
by  this  means  you  ensure  stability  of  government.  We 
have  no  intention  of  staying  here,  and  our  eventual 
withdrawal  after  we  have  won  the  war  would  throw  you 
back  again  into  the  chaos  which  is  the  normal  state  of 
Persia.  Now  with  the  Germans  and  Turks  there  would 
be  no  risk  of  that.  Once  here  they  are  here  till  the  crack 
of  doom,  and  a  stable  form  of  government  is  assured  in 
perpetuity.  German  rule  would  be  a  nice  bracing  tonic 
for  Persians  who,  as  you  yourselves  complain,  are  too 
lethargic.  There  won't  be  any  lethargy  left  when  you've 
had  a  dose  of  Kultur.  And  as  to  the  Turks,  well  !  you 
know  more  about  them  and  their  methods  of  government 
than  I  can  tell  you.  Still,  all  these  advantages  are  only 
to  be  gained  if  the  Germans  win  the  war,  and  they  won't. 
Therefore  I  think  that  on  the  whole  your  leaning  to 
them  and  antagonism  to  us  is  not  going  to  do  you  any 
good."  This  produced  quite  a  volley  of  negatives. 
"  What  an  unheard  of  thing  to  suggest  that  we  have  any 
sort  of  leanings  towards  those  horrible  Germans  whom 
we  loathe  and  the  Turks  whom  we  despise.  We  have 
the  greatest  admiration  for  the  British,  but  we  are  a 
neutral  country,  and  you  must  leave  Persia  at  once. 
We  intend  no  open  hostility  to  you  and  will  even  offer 
you  protection  in  case  of  trouble,  but  the  people  of  the 
town  are  fierce  and  will  not  be  controlled  by  us." 

This  will  suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  the  entertaining 
conversations  with  which  we  whiled  away  the  pleasant 
hours.  They  were  both  amusing  and  useful  to  me — I 
doubt  if  they  were  useful  to  the  democrats,  but  they 
must  have  been  extraordinarily  amusing.  To  think  how 
easily  the  British  General  had  swallowed  all  that  stuff 
about  their  hating  Kuchik  and  loathing  the  Germans  and 
Turks  !     Ha  !  ha  ! 


CHAPTER     VII 
FAMINE 

IT  is  hard  to  convey  to  any  one  who  has  never  been 
in  a  famine  even  the  faintest  idea  of  the  horrors 
that  dearth  of  food  entails.  In  the  struggle  for  existence 
the  human  side  of  nature  gets  thrust  out  of  sight  and 
only  the  animal,  like  a  ravening  wolf,  remains. 

Many  may  be  acquainted  with  famine  conditions 
in  a  country  like  India  where,  however  great  the  suffering 
may  be,  the  Government  undertakes  full  responsibility, 
and  private  charity  properly  organized  assists  in  the 
endeavour  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  poor. 
Even  then  the  misery  is  appalling.  But  imagine  what 
the  conditions  must  be  in  a  country  like  Persia,  where 
the  State  makes  no  effort  and  where  private  charity 
would  be  regarded  as  lunacy. 

Signs  of  the  famine  had  greeted  us  at  the  very  outset 
of  our  journey  in  January  when  we  encountered  the  dead 
and  dying  on  the  road,  and  passed  through  half-ruined 
villages  with  their  starving  inhabitants.  But  as  time 
went  on  conditions  went  from  bad  to  worse,  and  it  was 
obvious  that  the  distress  must  increase  until  the  reaping 
of  the  next  harvest  some  six  months  hence. 

The  famine  was  due  to  many  causes.  Firstly,  owing 
to  war  conditions  and  bad  weather,  the  harvest  of  1917 
had  been  a    bad  one.     Secondly,   the    demands   of    the 

102 


FAMINE  108 

troops,  Turkish  and  Russian,  had  been  considerable 
and  had  much  reduced  the  quantity  of  grain  on 
the  market.  Thirdly,  the  extraordinary  rise  in  price  had 
opened  such  vistas  of  wealth  to  the  landowners  and 
grain  dealers  that  they  had  made  a  ring  with  a  view 
to  keeping  these  prices  up  and  forcing  them  still 
higher ;  and  although  there  was  always  wheat  enough 
for  the  food  of  the  people,  the  holders  of  wheat  refused 
to  put  their  stocks  on  the  market,  waiting  for  still 
better  prices,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  every  fractional 
rise  in  price  meant  a  large  increase  in  the  death- 
rate  among  the  very  poor.  The  wheat  was  there,  but 
not  the  money  to  pay  for  it. 

The  apathy  of  the  townspeople  of  Hamadan  was 
extraordinary.  Among  the  population  of  50,000  over 
30  per  cent,  were  on  the  verge  of  starvation  and  for  a 
very  large  percentage  death  was  inevitable.  But  Hama- 
dan contains  a  very  large  number  of  wealthy  people, 
and  the  well-to-do  community  could  easily  have  saved 
their  poorer  brethren  from  starvation  had  they  but 
parted  with  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  enormous 
profits  they  had  already  made  out  of  wheat  transactions. 
But  not  only  would  they  take  no  steps  themselves,  but 
when  I  took  the  steps  for  them  I  had  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  getting  prominent  men  even  to  assist 
in  the  organization  of  the  gangs,  distribution  of 
tickets,    etc. 

When  we  arrived  in  Hamadan  there  were  already  two 
centres  of  famine  relief  at  work,  one  at  the  Imperial  Bank 
of  Persia  and  the  other  at  the  American  Mission  ;  but 
the  numbers  they  were  able  to  deal  with  fell  far  short  of 
the  15,000  people  who  were  in  acute  distress.  These 
relief  centres  were  run  on  purely  charitable  lines,  no 
work  being  exacted  and  no  money  paid,  but  good  food 
issued  on  tickets. 

The  relief  I  proposed  to  undertake  would  be  on  the 


104    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

lines  of  cash  payment  for  a  day's  labour,  without 
demanding   any   special  standard  of   work. 

The  most  suitable  form  of  famine  relief  work  appeared 
to  be  the  construction  of  new  roads  and  the  improve- 
ment of  those  already  existing  in  the  neighbourhood.  I 
therefore  begged  that  a  sum  might  be  allotted  for  this 
purpose,  and  my  request  was  sanctioned  without  delay. 

Having  received  permission  to  incur  the  necessary 
expenditure,  all  that  remained  was  to  get  the  men  to 
work.  None  of  us  had  any  experience  of  famine  relief 
work,  and  the  problem  before  us  appeared  fairly  simple ; 
but  it  was  not.  The  problem  was  this  :  "In  this  town 
are,  say,  10,000  men  and  boys  on  the  verge  of  starvation. 
Of  these  we  can  employ  5,000  ;  but  these  5,000  must 
be  chosen  only  from  the  very  poorest.  How  can  we  be 
certain  of  getting  the  poorest  ?  How  can  we  best  notify 
conditions  as  to  work,  time,  place,  etc  ?  How  can  we 
ensure  the  men  we  want  turning  up  and  no  others  ? 
With  so  few  officers  superintending  and  such  large 
gangs  at  work,  how  can  we  be  certain  that  the  men 
we  pay  out  at  pay-time  are  the  men  who  actually  did 
the  work  ?  " 

These  are  not  the  only  questions  we  had  to  ask 
ourselves ;  there  were  a  great  many  more,  but 
these  were  perhaps  the  main  problems,  a  solution  of 
which  was  indispensable  to  satisfactory  commencement 
of  the  work. 

In  discussing  this  on  paper  I  may  be  giving  the  false 
idea  that  we  had  carefully  considered  all  these  questions 
beforehand.  We  did  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  only 
realized  the  necessity  for  various  lines  of  action  as  we 
learnt  day  by  day  by  sad  experience. 

There  were  too  many  other  things  to  be  attended  to, 
and  it  was  not  possible  to  devote  oneself  entirely  to  the 
problems  of  famine  relief.  We  were  even  ignorant  of 
the  numbers  to  be  dealt  with,  as  to  which  it  was  not 


FAMINE  105 

feasible  to  obtain  any  reliable  estimate  ;  we  could  only 
find  out  by  trial. 

Our  earlier  efforts  were  great  failures,  but  we  soon 
got  things  in  order,  and  in  the  end  achieved  remarkable 
success. 

For  the  first  day's  work  no  one  seemed  quite  certain 
if  the  people  would  turn  out  at  all,  and  we  were  certainly 
quite  unprepared  for  the  enormous  crowd  of  applicants 
we  had  to  deal  with.  It  was  announced  in  the  town 
on  the  previous  evening  that  the  British  desired  to  have 
some  work  done  on  the  roads  and  would  pay  workers 
three  krans  a  day,  that  the  work  was  intended  to  help 
the  starving  people,  that  only  the  very  poorest  would 
be  accepted,  and  that  intending  workers  were  to 
assemble  at  a  spot  near  the  eastern  exits  of  the  town 
at  8  a.m. 

At  the  appointed  hour  on  the  next  day  I  sent  Captain 
John,  with  two  other  officers  to  assist  him,  to  start  the 
day's  proceedings.  The  instructions  I  gave  him  were 
these  :  *'  As  soon  as  you  get  your  men  assembled  make 
them  sit  down  in  rows.  Pick  out  all  the  robust  ones 
and  send  them  back  to  the  town  till  you  have  reduced 
the  numbers  down  to  the  level  we  can  afford  to  pay. 
Divide  up  into  gangs  of  fifty,  choose  a  likely  man  as 
head  of  each  gang  and  get  to  work." 

There  was  not  for  a  moment  any  doubt  as  to  the 
number  of  people  applying  for  work.  The  entire  town 
rose  as  one  man  and  rushed  to  the  rendezvous,  the 
unfortunate  officers  were  overwhelmed  and  lucky  to  get 
out  alive,  although  the  disappointed  crowd  showed  no 
malice.  There  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  give  up  any 
further  effort  for  that  day  and  try  again  to-morrow, 
having  in  the  meantime  thought  things  out  a  little  more 
and  issued  further  explanatory  proclamations  in  the 
town. 

Tickets  were  also  printed,  to  be  given  out  on  the 


106    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

ground  to  each  man  before  commencing  work  and  to 
be  presented  by  him  as  a  coupon  for  payment  at  the 
end  of  the  day. 

The  next  day,  with  a  strong  escort  of  drivers,  Captain 
John  again  proceeded  to  his  task,  but  again  returned 
reporting  a  failure. 

I  was  not  pleased  with  this  repeated  lack  of  success, 
and  explained  to  the  officer  in  charge  that  it  was  simply 
owing  to  his  lack  of  ordinary  intelligence.  Colonel 
Duncan  quite  agreed  with  my  reproaches  and  added, 
*'  The  mistake  you  make  is  in  not  making  the  men  sit 
down.  Once  they  are  sitting  it  is  quite  easy  to  keep 
order." 

The  next  day  again  I  received  a  despairing  message 
from  Captain  John  to  say  that  he  was  powerless  to  do 
anything  with  the  mob.  I  replied  that  I  would  send 
Colonel  Duncan  out  to  show  him  how  to  do  it. 

So  Colonel  Duncan  forthwith  proceeded  and,  after 
making  some  such  remark  as  "  Now  you  watch  me," 
addressed  the  crowd  in  Persian,  as  follows :  "Sit  down, 
sit  down,  sit  down  !  Nothing  till  you  sit  down.  Sit 
down !  "  Whereupon  the  crowd  of  several  thousands 
sat  down.  Then  the  interpreter  announced,  "The  gentle- 
man will  now  give  tickets  to  those  who  are  entitled  to 
work.     No   one   must   move,   all   must   remain   seated." 

Perfect  order  reigned,  and  a  triumphant  smile 
enlivened  the  features  of  the  Staff  Officer.  "  Now 
all  you  have  to  do  is  for  each  of  you  to  go  round  with 
a  bundle  of  tickets  and  issue  them  to  the  most 
hungry  -  looking "  ;  with  which  remark  he  stepped 
forward  with  one  ticket  in  his  hand  to  demonstrate 
the  process.  In  one  moment  the  whole  six  thousand 
were  on  top  of  him,  and  he  returned  sadder  but 
wiser,  admitting  another  failure,  after  having  been 
severely  trampled  on. 

Our  next  scheme  was  to   issue   tickets    the   evening 


FAMINE  107 

before  through  the  Consul  and  any  of  the  prominent 
citizens  of  the  town  who  would  undertake  to  be  respon- 
sible for  the  various  quarters  in  which  they  resided. 
From  this  time  on  things  worked  more  or  less  satisfac- 
torily. But  in  manipulating  any  charitable  scheme  the 
whole  world  seems  to  be  against  you  ;  genuine  helpers 
there  were  none,  and  the  recipients  of  the  charity  were 
as  bad  as  any  in  their  dishonesty.  The  great  difficulty 
was  to  ensure  that  only  the  poorest  got  the  tickets  ;  but 
the  poorest  are  the  weakest,  and  the  weakest  go  to  the 
wall,  and  it  was  hard  to  prevent  fairly  robust  men  coming 
to  the  works  while  the  really  starving  were  j)ushed  out 
in  the  scramble  for  tickets. 

Then  there  was  a  traffic  in  tickets  which  we  were 
powerless  to  stop.  Assuming  that  one  of  the  men 
deputed  to  issue  tickets  acted  conscientiously  in 
his  distribution,  he  could  never  be  sure  that  the  same 
applicant  had  not  been  up  three  times  and  received 
three  tickets.  Or,  if  he  were  not  conscientious,  there 
was  nothing  to  prevent  him  from  giving  five  tickets 
straightaway  to  any  favoured  individual. 

These  tickets  gave  the  right  to  work  for  one  day  and 
receive  a  payment  of  three  krans  ;  the  normal  value  of 
a  kran  is  a  little  less  than  fivepence.  The  lucky  holder 
of  five  tickets  could  go  round  the  town,  sell  the  five 
tickets  for  one  kran  each,  enabling  the  purchasers  to  earn 
two  krans  by  putting  in  a  day's  work  on  the  roads,  while 
he  pocketed  five  krans  without  having  to  do  any  work 
at  all.  Nothing  could  put  a  stop  to  this  kind  of  fraud 
except  the  co-operation  of  the  well-to-do  Persians,  but 
so  far  there  was  no  sign  of  any  desire  on  their  part  to 
help  us.  I  had  already  begged  the  Governor,  the  other 
officials  and  all  the  big  men  of  the  town  to  show  some 
interest  in  the  scheme,  but  they  showed  none.  The  only 
sign  of  interest  displayed  by  notables  came  from  the  poli- 
ticians, and  took  the  form  of  the  most  active  opposition. 


108    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

They  realized  that  I  was  fulfilling  the  promise  of  my 
proclamation,  in  which  I  had  stated  that  the  British 
always  interested  themselves  in  the  welfare  of  the  people  ; 
they  saw  that  we  were  gaining  in  popularity,  and  they 
infinitely  preferred  the  death  of  their  neighbours  to  such 
an  undesirable  contingency.  It  was  the  same  unuttered 
thought  of  all  revolutionaries:  "  Life  must  be  sacrificed 
in  this  good  cause  ;  so  let  any  life  but  mine  be  freely 
offered  up." 

The  next  step  of  our  opponents  was  that  when  I  had 
provided  the  starving  people  with  money  to  buy  bread, 
they  closed  the  bakers'  shops  by  intimidation  and 
insisted  on  the  people  dying  "  in  a  good  cause."  This 
difficulty  we  also  overcame. 

Then  there  was  further  trouble  on  the  ground.  With 
so  few  officers  to  supervise,  how  could  we  be  sure  that 
the  ticket -holders  did  any  work  at  all  ?  It  was  hard  to 
prevent  a  man  from  getting  his  ticket,  sneaking  off  into 
the  town  and  either  selling  it  or  turning  up  himself  at 
pay-time  after  having  done  no  work.  And  work  was 
only  exacted  in  proportion  to  strength.  Some  were 
only  capable  of  pretending  to  work  as  we  came  along 
to  inspect,  feebly  patting  the  ground  with  a  small  imple- 
ment, and  ceasing  this  effort  as  soon  as  we  had  passed. 
Of  these  a  certain  number  lay  dead  on  the  ground  by 
the  time  the  day's  pay  came  to  be  issued.  It  seems 
horrible  that  men  should  have  to  work  under  such 
conditions,  but  Government  funds  are  not  available  for 
issue  in  the  form  of  simple  charity,  though  we  got  as 
close  to  that  as  we  conscientiously  could. 

As  time  went  on  the  deaths  entirely  ceased  and 
within  only  a  few  days  each  man  w'as  capable  of  doing 
some  appreciable  work  without  over-exerting  himself, 
and  no  Persian  is  prone  to  over-exertion. 

Our  system  of  having  gangers  to  each  fifty  was  the 
only   workable   one  ;    but  the  gangers   were   not  to   be 


FAMINE  109 

trusted,  and  they  probably  got  their  mite  out  of  each 
member  of  the  gang.  The  most  we  could  do  to  thwart 
this  was  to  make  all  payments  ourselves  direct  to  the 
workers,  a  British  officer  actually  putting  each  man's 
money  into  his  hands  ;  but  this  would  not  prevent  the 
ganger  from  applying  afterwards  what  the  Chinese 
appropriately  call  "  Squeeze."  This  task  of  direct 
payment  by  an  officer  was  very  toilsome,  but  we  never 
swerved  from  it. 

We  employed  no  women,  and  it  was  now  suggested 
that  while  we  were  giving  each  man  the  bare  amount 
to  support  his  own  life,  there  was  nothing  over  for  his 
family,  who  starved  as  before.  This  difficulty  was  over- 
come in  a  very  simple  way,  by  increasing  the  value  of 
each  ticket  to  an  extent  that  would  enable  the  worker 
to  buy  enough  bread  for  his  wife  and  children  as  well 
as  himself. 

Like  all  these  simple  solutions,  this  was  doomed  to 
instant  failure  and  had  to  be  at  once  withdrawn.  What 
we  intended  to  happen  did  not  happen,  and  instead  the 
result  was  wholly  unfortunate.  The  agricultural  labourers 
who  were  just  making  both  ends  meet  in  the  surrounding 
villages,  hearing  of  the  good  wages  I  was  paying,  flooded 
the  town,  elbowed  the  starving  townsmen  out  of  the 
way  and  secured  a  large  proportion  of  the  tickets.  My 
intended  boon  to  the  poor  had  a  quite  contrary  result 
and  had  to  be  withdrawn.  Any  one  of  experience  would 
have  foreseen  all  this,  but  we  had  no  experience  and  had 
to  learn  as  we  went  along. 

By  the  time  the  second  party — the  first  addition  to 
our  force — arrived,  we  had  got  things  going  fairly  well, 
but  were  still  hampered  by  paucity  of  officers  for  super- 
vision. I  entrusted  the  future  working  of  the  scheme 
entirely  to  General  Byron,  who  was  very  soon  able  to 
introduce  many  much-needed  improvements.  Arrange- 
ments were  made  for  a  portion  of    the  wage  to  be  paid 


110    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

in  cash,  and  the  remainder  issued  in  the  shape  of  food 
from  soup  kitchens  established  in  the  town.  The  reduc- 
tion in  cash  payments,  while  supplying  food  in  kind  to 
the  workers,  helped  very  much  to  eliminate  the  stronger 
members  who  had  hitherto  been  our  chief  difficulty. 
They  wanted  the  cash  only,  and  the  necessity  of  drawing 
part  payment  in  the  shape  of  food  from  the  soup  kitchens 
successfully  choked  them  off. 

The  work  on  which  the  officers  and  N.C.O.'s  were 
engaged  was  undoubtedly  a  noble  one,  but  it  was  the 
exact  reverse  of  any  task  which  these  essentially  fighting 
men  had  expected.  Chosen  especially  for  their  martial 
qualities,  and  panting  to  achieve  "  The  bubble  reputa- 
tion at  the  cannon's  mouth,"  it  was  indeed  a  dispiriting 
step  on  the  path  to  glory  to  find  themselves  dumped 
down  in  a  Persian  village,  issuing  soup  to  the  poor.  All 
I  could  do  was  to  cheer  them  by  putting  before  them 
the  prospect  of  more  lively  events  later. 

Cases  of  cannibalism  were  not  uncommon,  and  the 
punishment  of  such  offenders  as  were  detected  was  worse 
than  the  crime.  It  is  easy  for  a  mullah  with  a  full  stomach 
to  condemn  to  death  miserable  beings  who  are  insane 
from  the  pangs  of  hunger.  Two  culprits,  a  mother  and 
daughter,  who  had  cooked  and  eaten  one  of  the  family 
(a  boy  six  years  of  age)  were  stoned  to  death  in  front 
of  the  telegraph  office  by  order  of  the  religious  authorities. 
In  this  case  the  offenders  were  women,  who  are  of  small 
account ;  and  they  had  eaten  a  male  child.  There  may 
have  been  cases  equally  bad  where  the  culprits  were  male 
and  the  victims  female,  but  I  know  of  none  such  being 
brought  to  light.  It  was  always  the  women  who  were 
brought  up. 

We  are  taught  from  early  youth  that  only  properly 
organized  charity  is  of  any  avail,  and  that  fortuitous 
charity  does  more  harm  than  good.  It  is  impossible 
always  to  act  up  to  principles,  and  the  extreme  pleasure 


FAMINE  111 

of  being  able  to  relieve  the  immediate  sufferings  of  some 
wretched  individual  is  apt  to  lead  into  indiscretion.  Such 
a  case  occurred  to  me  and  gave  me  a  lesson  which  I  shall 
remember  for  the  rest  of  my  life. 

I  was  walking  through  the  bazaars  with  my  friend 
Haji  Saad-es-Sultaneh  when  we  came  opposite  a  bread- 
shop,  where  the  long  strips  of  "Sangak,"  or  Persian 
chupatty,  were  hanging  temptingly  on  pegs,  looking 
more  like  dirty  cloths  than  bread.  In  front  of  the  shop 
was  an  emaciated  child  of  about  nine,  looking  longingly 
at  the  bread  with  its  eyes  half  out  of  its  head.  I  looked 
round  and  saw  there  was  no  sign  of  any  other  beggars 
in  the  street,  fearing  that,  if  there  were,  any  gift  to  the 
child  might  cause  a  scramble.  The  temptation  was  too 
strong  to  resist  and  I  hastily  paid  for  a  large  chupatty 
(they  are  about  five  times  the  size  of  the  biggest  Indian 
specimens),  and  presented  it  to  the  wretched  infant. 
In  one  instant  the  whole  bazaar  was  in  a  state  of  pande- 
monium, hosts  of  starving  people,  hitherto  invisible, 
appeared  to  drop  from  the  sky,  and  before  I  could  realize 
what  was  happening  the  unfortunate  holder  of  the  prize 
was  literally  buried  beneath  a  mass  of  fighting  and 
screaming  humanity,  each  with  murder  in  his  heart 
trying  to  obtain  possession  of  a  morsel  of  the  food. 
"  Beastly  !  "  you  may  say.     But  why  malign  the  beasts  ? 

The  restoration  of  order  was  a  difficult  task.  With- 
out aid  the  owner  of  the  bread  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  killed ;  as  it  was  the  bread  was  torn  to  scraps, 
rubbed  into  the  mud  of  the  road  and  the  fragments 
swallowed  whole  by  the  lucky  holders,  in  the  intervals 
of  fighting,  scratching,  biting  and  strangling  each  other. 
There  was  not  one  that  was  not  covered  with  blood. 

The  work  was  continued  till  the  harvest  was  at  hand, 
when  the  holders  of  grain  stocks  began  to  release  them, 
proving  thereby  the  correctness  of  my  previous  state- 
ment that  there  was   plenty  of   wheat  in   the   country 


112    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

which  I  could  have  drawn  on  if  I  had  been  able  to  apply 
military  force  to  bring  it  on  to  the  market. 

In  the  early  days  of  famine  relief  it  could  not  be 
expected  that  the  workers  would  show  much  return  for 
the  expenditure ;  in  fact,  for  one  month  we  did  little 
more  than  keep  them  alive.  After  that,  rapid  progress 
was  made  and  much  useful  road-work  undertaken.  The 
first  task  was  the  construction  of  a  road  entirely 
encircling  the  huge  straggling  town.  The  advantages  of 
such  a  road  were  very  great  both  from  the  point  of  view 
of  tactics  and  also  of  general  convenience  of  convoys, 
of  which  there  would  be  many  when  the  hoped-for  troops 
began  to  move  up.  Without  such  a  road  a  driver  who 
approaches  a  Persian  town  from  one  side  with  a  view 
of  reaching  some  place  on  the  other,  is  very  severely 
handicapped ;  to  find  his  way,  for  instance,  without 
being  able  to  speak  the  language,  through  the  tortuous 
streets  of  Hamadan,  would  be  well-nigh  impossible. 
Added  to  this  is  the  fact  that  in  many  streets  only  the 
smallest  cars  could  get  through,  and  big  lorries  would 
get  stuck.  By  means  of  the  circular  road,  lorries  could 
pass  rapidly  and  without  hindrance  from  any  one  point 
to  another,  and  in  case  of  trouble  in  the  town  the 
armoured  cars  could  get  round  to  any  point  in  a  very 
short  time,  avoiding  the  risk  and  difficulty  of  forcing 
their  way  through  the  narrow  streets.  The  next  road 
undertaken  led  from  the  upper  ground  where  we  were 
billeted  to  the  aeroplane  ground  on  the  low  plain  east 
of  the  town.  The  remainder  of  the  work  consisted  in 
a  general  improvement  of  existing  roads. 

Up  till  March  28th  all  the  various  tasks  described 
up  to  this  point  were  undertaken  by  the  small  original 
party,  and  our  days  were  more  than  busy.  On  the  28th 
and  29th  the  thirty  rifles  of  the  Hants  and  the  aero- 
plane had  arrived,  and  from  this  date  our  position  might 
be  regarded  as  secure.     The  time  when  the  hostile  demo- 


A    COUKTYAKI)    IX    THE    BaZAAK,    HAMAUAN 


FAMINE  118 

crats  might  have  hoped  to  have  attacked  us  with  some 
prospect  of  success  was  gone  for  ever,  and  the  feelings 
not  only  of  the  townspeople  but  also  of  the  surrounding 
districts  had  changed  from  an  attitude  of  suspicion  and 
hostility  to  one  of  honest  liking  for  the  new-comers.  Our 
agents  returning  from  far-off  villages  in  Kurdistan  and 
elsewhere  brought  back  tidings  of  our  reflected  glory  in 
the  form  of  bazaar  reports  in  those  neighbourhoods,  that 
we  had  done  wonderful  things  with  the  famine  in  Hama- 
dan,  and  intended  shortly  to  extend  our  charitable  opera- 
tions over  the  whole  province,  a  hope  which  it  was  quite 
impossible  for  us  to  convert  into  a  fact.  We  had  been 
able  to  do  much  for  Hamadan  where  we  felt  it  incumbent 
on  us  to  do  what  we  could,  but  the  whole  of  North  Persia 
was  famine-stricken,  and  the  horrors  of  other  towns 
and  villages  equalled  or  exceeded  those  of  Hamadan. 
The  fame  of  our  relief  works  spread  down  even  as  far 
as  Gilan,  and  Kuchik  Khan,  in  his  pose  as  an  enlightened 
ruler,  felt  called  on  to  undertake  relief  work  on  some- 
what similar  lines  but  on  a  smaller  scale. 

At  the  beginning  of  April,  as  it  was  now  certain  that 
either  myself  or  my  second-in-command  would  be  in 
Hamadan  for  a  long  time,  I  shifted  my  quarters  from  the 
hospitable  dwelling  of  the  McMurrays  and  set  up  my 
own  establishment  in  a  small  house  lent  me  by  the 
Bank. 

About  this  time  the  constant  firing  at  night  which 
was  carried  out  with  a  view  of  terrifying  us  ceased  almost 
entirely.  It  had  never  been  very  dangerous,  the  shots 
being  always  unaimed,  except  one  or  two  which  struck 
my  bungalow  but  did  not  even  break  a  pane  of  glass. 

On  April  24th  arrived  a  squadron  of  the  14th  Hussars, 
under  Captain  Pope. 

Supplies  were  now  easier  to  obtain  and  Captain 
Campbell,  the  Supply  Officer,  was  able  to  report  that 
our  stocks  had  reached  a  figure  that  made  the  prospect 

9 


114    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

of  any  further  crisis  very  remote.  Even  if  supplies  were 
not  always  easily  obtainable  we  knew  where  the  wheat 
hoards  were,  and  only  required  troops  to  insist  on  their 
surrender  at  a  fair  price.  Thus,  except  for  the  bacon 
and  jam  part  of  the  ration,  we  could  guarantee  to  feed 
a  large  number  of  troops  without  difficulty. 

As  soon  as  the  snow  began  to  melt  on  the  lower 
hills  I  sent  a  small  party  under  Captain  Hooper  to  examine 
and  report  on  the  road  over  the  Asadabad  Pass.  The 
party  consisted  of  three  officers  and  two  drivers,  and 
while  carrying  out  their  task  of  reconnaissance  they 
became  engaged  in  a  very  minor  military  operation. 
Half-way  up  the  pass  it  was  found  that  the  cars  could 
proceed  no  farther,  and  a  halt  was  ordered,  to  enable 
the  party  to  examine  the  road  on  foot.  At  this  point 
a  descending  caravan  of  pack  donkeys  was  encountered, 
and  the  owners  complained  that  they  had  just  been  looted 
by  thieves  who  had  taken  refuge  in  a  village  near  by. 
As  it  would  be  necessary  to  get  labour  for  road  improve- 
ments from  these  villages  close  to  the  road.  Captain 
Hooper  decided  to  inquire  about  the  prospects  of  obtain- 
ing coolie  gangs  here,  and  with  this  view  moved  with 
his  little  party,  leaving  one  man  in  charge  of  the  cars, 
towards  the  village,  expecting  at  the  same  time  to  run 
into  the  robber  band. 

If  the  robbers  had  kept  quiet  nothing  would  have 
happened,  but  on  seeing  the  approach  of  the  very  small 
party  their  guilty  consciences  led  them  to  decide  on 
flight.  They  emerged  from  a  house  on  the  outskirts  of 
the  village  and  fled  towards  the  hills,  pursued  by  all  the 
villagers  and  the  plundered  merchants,  who  overtook 
them,  gave  them  a  sound  hammering  and  recovered  the 
stolen  property. 

The  amusing  thing  about  all  this  is,  that  what  the 
villagers  and  merchants  accomplished  with  merely  the 
moral  support  of  one  or  two  men  with  rifles,  they  could 


FAMINE  115 

have  equally  accomplished  without,  another  example  of 
the  effect  of  lack  of  leadership. 

It  was  not  Captain  Hooper's  duty  to  interfere  in  a 
case  of  this  sort,  the  policing  of  Persia  forming  no  part 
of  our  responsibilities,  but  the  movement  in  the  direction 
of  the  robber  band  coincided  with  the  legitimate  move- 
ment towards  the  village  for  other  purposes.  The 
guilty  consciences  of  the  bandits  settled  the  rest  of  the 
matter. 

On  April  21st  the  real  advent  of  spring  was  heralded 
by  the  appearance  of  the  first  blossoms  on  the  fruit-trees, 
and  we  were  glad  to  feel  that  we  had  said  good-bye  to 
the  snow.  Two  days  later  an  Armenian  doctor  arrived 
from  Baku,  bringing  suggestions  from  the  Armenian 
National  Council  there  with  regard  to  possibilities  of 
our  helping  to  put  things  straight  in  that  part  of  the 
world. 

The  Bolshevik  Government  was  still  in  power  under 
the  leadership  of  an  Armenian  named  Shaumian,  but 
there  was  a  growing  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  people 
against  them,  and  their  influence  was  distinctly  on  the 
wane.  Very  serious  disturbances  had  broken  out  in 
March  in  connection  with  the  disarming  on  arrival  at 
Baku  of  troops  from  Persia,  street-fighting  had  ensued 
and  a  large  number  of  very  valuable  buildings  in  the 
Tartar  quarter  had  been  destroyed  by  Armenian  troops. 
The  result  of  this  was  naturally  to  accentuate  the  animosity 
already  existing  between  the  Tartars  and  the  Armenians, 
and  to  make  the  plight  of  the  latter  very  unenviable  in 
the  event  of  the  Turks  eventually  taking  Baku.  The 
British  Consul,  Mr.  MacDonnell,  was  still  in  the  town, 
and  he  was  able  to  furnish  very  useful  statements 
concerning  the  situation. 

The  schemes  propounded  by  the  doctor  were  all  based 
upon  British  military  support  in  the  shape  of  actual  troops, 
and  he  stated  that  he  was  not  authorized  to  accept  our 


I 


116    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

aid  merely  in  the  form  of  leaders  and  organizers.  I  had 
to  make  it  very  clear  to  him  that  I  had  no  troops  and 
could  make  no  promises  as  to  the  dispatch  of  troops 
from  Baghdad.  So  we  could  agree  upon  no  plan  suitable 
to  both  parties,  and  nothing  came  of  our  conversation. 

On  this  day  a  Turkish  naval  oflficer  surrendered  to 
us.  He  was  tired  of  wandering  about  Persia  and  wanted 
decent  food  and  a  rest-cure.  It  is  not  likely  that  he  had 
been  actively  engaged  in  any  of  the  enemy  schemes  in 
this  part  of  the  world,  but  it  was  just  as  well  to  have 
him  out  of  the  way. 

On  May  1st  we  had  news  of  the  entry  of  the  Turks 
into  Tabriz,  a  move  that  we  had  long  been  expecting  and 
that  might  threaten  our  position  at  Kasvin,  if  they  had 
the  energy  to  push  down  the  Mianeh-Zinjan  road  towards 
that  town  ;  and  there  was  nothing  to  stop  their  doing 
this.  The  move  was  obvious,  but  indecision  on  the  part 
of  the  Turkish  Commander  fortunately  delayed  it  until 
September. 

Having  firmly  established  ourselves  in  Hamadan  we 
might  now  hope  to  secure  a  similar  position  in  Kasvin, 
and  I  accordingly  dispatched  a  small  party  of  officers 
and  N.C.O.'s  under  Major  Hay,  to  get  a  footing  there, 
spy  out  the  land,  start  famine  relief  and  reconnoitre 
for  billets  and  supplies.  I  purposely  made  the  thin  end 
of  the  wedge  as  thin  as  possible,  but  to  make  some  small 
display  of  force  in  this  direction  I  also  dispatched  the 
squadron  of  the  14th  Hussars,  who  went  into  camp  at 
Sultanabad,  about  5  miles  on  our  side  of  Kasvin. 

The  third  party  had  now  arrived,  and  provided 
sufficient  personnel  to  enable  us  to  undertake  further 
enterprises.  With  a  view  to  thwarting  Turkish  efforts 
to  win  over  the  Kurds  and  other  tribes  lying  between 
them  and  us,  and  to  raising  levies  and  irregulars  among 
these  tribes  for  our  own  purposes,  I  dispatched  Major 
Starnes  with  a  party  to  Bijar,    100  miles  north-west  of 


FAMINE  117 

Hamadan,  and  Major  Wagstaff  with  a  similar  party  and 
and  an  armoured  car  to  Zinjan,  a  little  more  than  100 
miles  west  of  Kasvin  on  the  road  to  Tabriz.  These 
two  parties,  consisting  only  of  officers  and  N.C.O.'s  with- 
out troops  were  dangerously  weak,  but  it  was  all  we  could 
do  at  the  time,  and  with  the  Turks  already  in  Tabriz  and 
also  threatening  an  advance  towards  Hamadan  from  the 
direction  of  Sauj-Bulaq,  south  of  Lake  Urumiah,  I  hoped 
that  this  very  weak  screen  would  for  a  time  at  least  baffle 
their  enterprises  in  our  direction,  while  the  possession 
of  Zinjan  would  stop  the  artery  by  which  Turkish  agents 
were  communicating  with  Kuchik  Khan  and  supplying 
him  with  arms  and  ammunition. 

Having  set  on  foot  arrangements  for  the  raising  of 
local  levies  I  decided  to  visit  Kasvin  and  see  how  our 
small  party  were  faring  there,  and  what  could  be  hoped 
for  in  the  way  of  recruits  for  levies  in  that  neighbour- 
hood. I  was  also  anxious  to  get  to  Teheran  for  a  few 
days  to  try  and  get  a  grip  of  the  internal  situation,  and 
obtain  the  Minister's  advice  on  the  subject  of  the  levies 
and  other  kindred  matters. 

I  accordingly  left  Hamadan  on  May  12th,  accompanied 
by  Captain  Saunders  and  Captain  Topham,  who  had 
now  taken  over  the  duties  of  A.D.C. 


CHAPTER    VIII 
A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN 

BEFORE  leaving  Hamadan  for  Kasvin  I  wrote  a 
letter,  in  which  I  endeavoured  to  make  as  clear 
as  I  could  how  things  stood  at  the  time  of  writing.  The 
following  extracts  from  the  letter  in  question  will  probably 
be  of  general  interest,  and  help  the  reader  to  form  a 
correct  mental  picture  of  the  general  outlook. 

"Hamadan, 

''May  5,  1918. 

".  .  .  There  are  so  many  situations  here,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  give  a  full  appreciation  of  each.  There  is 
the  local  situation,  the  all-Persia  situation,  the  Jangali 
situation,  the  Persian-Russian  situation,  the  Turkish- 
advance-on-Tabriz  situation,  the  question  of  liquidating 
Russian  debts,  the  Baku  situation,  the  South  Caucasus 
situation,  the  North  Caucasus  situation,  the  Bolshevik 
situation  and  the  Russian  situation  as  a  whole.  And 
each  of  these  subdivides  into  smaller  and  acuter  situations 
— for  there  is  no  real  Caucasian  or  even  North  or  South 
Caucasian  point  of  view,  there  is  no  unity  of  thought 
or  action,  nothing  but  mutual  jealousy  and  mistrust. 
Thus  the  Georgians  of  Tiflis  regard  the  problem  from  a 
Georgian  point  of  view  and  play  only  for  their  own  hand  ; 
the  Armenians  and  the  Tartars  in  the  south,  and  the 
Terek  and  Kuban  Cossacks  and  the  Daghestanis  in  the 

118 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  119 

north,  do  the  same.  And  not  even  these  small  races  can 
agree  among  themselves  as  to  any  line  of  policy,  because 
they  have  two  distinct  lines  of  thought,  that  of  the 
greybeards  who  cling  to  the  traditions  of  their  fore- 
fathers, and  that  of  the  young  bloods  who  think 
everything  contemptible  that  is  not  brand  new.  This 
applies  with  especial  force  to  the  Cossacks,  who  have 
hitherto  been  entirely  ruled  by  a  council  of  elders. 

"Bolshevism  is  far  from  being  firmly  rooted  in  the 
Caucasus,  but  its  malevolent  tendencies  have  permeated 
the  blood  of  all  the  races  in  this  part  of  the  world :  the 
present  ultra-democratic  movement  in  Persia  is  really 
the  same  spirit  as  Bolshevism.  The  name  is  new,  but 
the  spirit  is  the  old  spirit  of  revolution,  the  spirit  of 
men  gone  mad.  *  What  is  yours  is  mine  and  what  is 
mine  is  my  own  ;  all  men  are  equal  and  brothers  ;  discipline 
and  control  are  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  freedom,  and  all 
men  are  free.'  And  out  of  this  always  emerges  the  insane 
doctrine :  *  The  more  blood  we  can  shed  the  freer  we  shall 
be  ;  and  it  doesn't  matter  whose  blood  it  is  as  long  as 
it  isn't  ours.'  The  mobs  are  bloodthirsty  and  cowardly 
and  are  at  the  mercy  of  any  disciplined  force,  however 
small. 

**  Here,  to  begin  with,  the  situation  is  enormously  im- 
proved. As  regards  troops,  I  have  at  present  one  squadron 
of  cavalry  and  two  armoured  cars  at  Kasvin  and  fifty 
rifles  and  two  light  armoured  motor-cars  here.  The 
detachment  of  fifty  rifles  1/4  Hants  Regt.  have  no  nights 
in  bed,  being  all  used  up  to  furnish  ordinary  guards  and 
to  guard  the  numerous  prisoners  I  collect.  I  have  at 
present  one  Russian  officer  suspect,  one  German  civilian 
sp3%  one  Turkish  naval  officer,  two  Turkish  soldiers  and 
four  Indian  deserters.  I  have  to  use  N.C.O.'s  as  privates 
and  officers  as  N.C.O.'s. 

"  Being  practically  without  troops  my  weapons  have 
been    propaganda,    winning    over    leaders    by    personal 


120    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

methods,  and  also  famine  relief  work.  All  of  these  have 
been  successful  and  have  resulted  in  turning  the  inhabitants 
of  this  district  from  an  attitude  of  hostility  to  one  of 
marked  friendliness.  Unfortunately  the  forces  of  good 
are  always  more  or  less  passive  and  the  forces  of  evil 
are  extremely  active,  so  that  while  in  this  town  of 
50,000  inhabitants  I  have  49,950  well-wishers,  there  is  a 
nucleus  of  fifty  sincere  haters  who  have  the  power  to 
cause  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  By  an  excellent  system 
of  intelligence  worked  by  Saunders  I  know  the  details 
of  all  their  plots,  and  we  are  so  far  able  to  counter 
them. 

**  Occasional  shots  are  fired  at  officers,  and  they  have 
sometimes  sniped  my  house  at  night  with  the  object  of 
terrifying  me.  I  have  no  troops  to  spare  for  a  guard. 
I  have  been  informed  that  I  shall  be  shot  in  the  town 
some  day,  but  there  has  been  no  attempt  to  put  this 
threat  into  execution.  I  have  made  friends  with  the 
leading  democrats,  but  get  little  results  from  that,  as, 
so  far  from  my  friendship  with  them  leading  to  friendly 
relations  with  the  democrats  in  general,  it  merely  has 
the  effect  of  putting  the  other  democrats  against 
them. 

"  One  of  my  friends,  a  high  Government  official,  called 
on  me  the  other  day  and  showed  me  a  threatening  letter 
he  had  received — written  in  red  ink  to  suggest  blood, 
and  with  a  picture  of  a  Mauser  pistol  at  the  top  of  it. 
The  letter  said  that  it  was  obvious  that  he  had  sold 
himself  for  money  to  the  English  and  if  he  continued 
to  visit  me  he  would  be  shot. 

**  On  the  other  hand  the  fame  of  the  famine  relief 
work  has  spread  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  district 
and  is  much  spoken  of  in  the  bazaars  of  Sinneh  and 
Bijar,  which  all  helps  the  cause,  and  I  have  been  able 
to  improve  existing  roads  and  to  construct  some  9  or 
10  miles   of  useful   communications.     So    on    the    whole 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  121 

the  situation  is  as  good  as  it  can  be  under  the 
circumstances. 

"  The  Persian  situation  fluctuates,  but  is  never  much 
in  our  favour.  The  people  are  attractive  ;  they  are  good 
workmen  but  lazy,  and  they  have  only  one  real  political 
idea,  fair  terms  for  farmers  and  a  guarantee  of  order. 
They  have  no  other  political  ideas,  but  in  their  hatred 
of  the  present  tyrannical  system  of  landlordism  they 
unconsciously  become  true  democrats  as  opposed  to  the 
political  democrat  who  does  not  know  what  the  word 
means.  Politically  *  Democracy  '  is  only  a  banner  to 
wave,  and  the  programme,  so  far  from  being  democratic, 
is  merely  a  stupid  combination  of  an  anti-European 
movement  with  an  attempt  to  bring  about  disorder  in 
which  every  poor  man  would  hope  to  possess  himself  of 
the  rich  man's  hoard. 

"  The  Jangali  situation  is  quiescent  and  is  perhaps 
reaching  a  point  of  stagnation  owing  to  the  fortunate 
interposition  of  Bicherakov's  partisans  ...  at  Kasvin 
and  Menjil.  It  was  an  extraordinary  piece  of  luck  that 
his  troops  were  late  in  evacuating,  and  I  was  able  to  get 
him  to  deal  with  the  Jangali  problem  just  in  the  nick  of 
time.  He  reached  Kasvin  on  March  28th  about  the  date 
on  which  Kuchik  was  to  have  taken  over  the  town  un- 
opposed. Had  Kuchik  succeeded  in  that,  Teheran  would 
have  raised  the  Jangali  banner  on  the  following  day  and 
North  Persia  would  have  gone.  In  the  East  a  small 
success  spreads  like  a  flame,  and  Jangali  sympathizers 
in  Teheran  include  a  portion  of  the  Cabinet.  Success 
would  bring  all  the  waverers  in  and  Persia  would  have 
started  another  revolution.  It  has  to  be  remembered 
with  gratitude  that  although  so  far  he  has  had  no  actual 
fighting,  Bicherakov  alone  solved  this  very  precarious 
situation. 

"  I  would  like  to  meet  Kuchik  Khan  personally  and 
talk  things  over,  but  his  German  advisers  would  go  to  any 


122    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

length  to  prevent  this.  Meantime  I  hope  to  bring  about  a 
meeting  between  Stokes  and  a  representative  of  Kuchik's, 
and  we  may  perhaps  come  to  a  settlement.  If  one  has 
no  troops  one  has  to  try  the  tongue.  Kuchik  Khan 
himself  is  a  man  of  humble  origin,  poses  as  a  religious 
enthusiast  and  is  not  of  much  intelligence.  He  is,  I 
rather  think,  a  true  patriot,  which  is  rare  in  this  land, 
but  like  many  true  patriots,  goes  the  wrong  way  to 
achieve  his  objects  and  does  not  realize  that  he  is  being 
made  a  tool  of.  He  has  a  nucleus  of  about  twenty 
foreign  officers,  German,  Turk  and  Russian,  who  he  thinks 
are  his  servants  but  who  really  are  the  mainspring  of  his 
movement  and  are  trying  to  push  him  over  the  precipice 
in  order  to  achieve  their  own  ends.  Meanwhile  he  is  at 
least  clever  enough  to  pause  on  the  brink,  and  if  I 
could  only  whisper  a  word  in  his  ear  I  think  he  would 
be  saved  the  fatal  leap. 

"  Bicherakov  makes  rather  large  financial  demands, 
and  the  War  Office  asks  if  he  is  worth  it.  He  cer- 
tainly is.  I  do  not  consider  his  demands  exorbitant, 
when  you  realize  the  task  he  is  accomplishing  and  the 
fact  that  he  alone  can  do  it.     We  have  no  alternative. 

"  At  present  rates  it  costs  but  very  little  under  one 
pound  a  day  to  feed  a  horse,  bread  and  meat  are  one 
shilling  and  tenpence  a  pound,  sugar  three  shillings  and 
sixpence  and  tea  four  shillings  and  sixpence,  so  that  a 
million  krans,  which  looks  a  big  figure,  does  not  go  very 
far.  Whatever  we  pay  him  does  not  got  into  his  pocket, 
but  is  honestly  spent  for  military  purposes,  though  with 
his  system  of  accounts  there  may  be  a  leakage  among 
the  subordinate  grades. 

'*  Mixed  up  A\ith  his  situation  is  the  question  of  the 
liquidation  of  Russian  debts.  So  far  our  Government 
has  refused  this  peremptorily,  but  I  have  advocated  it 
and  still  do  so.  .  .  . 

"...  The  Baku  situation  is  obscure.     It  is  separate 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  123 

from  the  Caucasus  question  generally.  At  present  the 
Armenian  colony  there  and  the  Bolsheviks  are  holding 
out  against  the  Caucasus-Islam  Army — The  Georgians  of 
Tiflis,  who  heartily  dislike  the  Armenians,  offer  no  help. 
How  can  we  help  them  in  any  way  that  would  hold  out 
a  chance  of  success  ?  It  appears  to  me  quite  impossible. 
Troops  alone  could  restore  order — and  we  have  no  troops. 
A  few  officers,  a  few  armoured  cars  and  liberal  finance 
would  not  turn  the  tide  ;  in  fact  such  an  effort  would 
probably  add  fuel  to  the  flames. 

"  The  South  Caucasus  situation  has  long  been  hopeless. 
They  must  go  on  killing  each  other  until  they  are  tired 
of  it  :  we  may  then  get  a  chance  of  pulling  things 
together  again.  But  for  the  moment  the  racial  and 
religious  animosities  are  so  fierce,  the  spirit  of  Bol- 
shevism is  so  rampant  and  the  usual  mistrust  of  the 
supposedly  self-seeking  Britisher  is  so  strong,  that  an 
opportunity  for  us  to  help  seems  far  away.  When  they 
appeal  to  us  for  help  they  mean  money,  money,  money. 
We  are  to  them  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  egg. 
We  should  be  temporarily  popular  with  those  who 
secured  the  egg,  but  we  should  get  no  real  gratitude 
even  from  them,  and  we  should  earn  the  more 
intense  hatred  of  the  others.  The  North  Caucasus  is 
the  same,  but  not  to  so  acute  a  degree.  There  is  less 
racial  and  religious  hatred,  but  there  is  a  hearty  dislike 
of  the  South  Caucasus  and  the  poison  of  Bolshevism 
is  also  in  their  blood.  The  Bolshevik  himself  is  not  of 
much  account ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  those 
who  fight  against  the  Bolsheviks  are  themselves  uncon- 
sciously impregnated  with  this  vile  spirit  of  Bolshevism 
— the  poison  innoculated  unnoticed  into  their  veins  by 
the  German  propagandist.  The  Tiflis  Government  is 
anti-Bolshevik,  but  the  members  are  probably  as  much 
inspired  by  Bolshevik  ideals  as  the  Bolsheviks  themselves. 

"  The    famine    here    has    been    awful.      The    highest 


124    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

price  I  know  of  quoted  for  wheat  has  been  230  tomans, 
or  about  £70,  for  one  kharwar=800  lb.,  the  normal 
price  being  12  tomans  or,  say,  70  shillings.  We  are 
buying  forward  crops  at  40  tomans  and  hope  to  get 
some  for  less.  Cases  of  cannibalism  have  occurred  in 
the  town.  Many  die  daily,  and  men  have  sometimes 
died  while  actually  on  relief  work.  Now  that  the  snow 
has  melted  and  spring  has  begun  the  people  go  out  and 
graze  in  the  fields  like  cattle. 

"Meantime,  though  wheat  and  barley  are  short,  they 
do  exist.  I  could  collect  by  force  enough  to  feed  the 
troops  and  stop  the  famine,  but  I  have  no  force  to  employ. 
I  know  where  the  wheat  is,  but  have  difficulty  in  getting 
it.  Firstly,  the  owner  holds  on  in  the  hope  of  higher 
prices  ;  secondly,  the  villagers  resent  it  being  taken  from 
a  village  while  they  starve ;  thirdly,  brigands  attack  grain 
convoys  on  the  road  ;  fourthly,  the  extreme  democrats 
threaten  to  kill  any  one  who  supplies  the  British  ;  and 
fifthly,  the  Governor  shows  me  an  order  he  has  received 
from  the  Government  at  Teheran  to  the  effect  that  he  is 
to  see  that  I  get  no  supplies.  ...  In  spite  of  this,  supplies 
come  in  very  well,  and  I  could  supply  a  Brigade  in  actual 
bread  and  meat  between  here  and  Menjil.  There  is  a 
shortage  also  at  Resht,  but  rice  is  obtainable  there,  and 
is  much  cheaper  than  wheat.  The  country  is  naturally 
rich  in  grain,  fruit  and  sheep,  and  there  will  be  no  supply 
difficulty  as  soon  as  the  new  crop  is  in.  At  this  elevation 
(6,500  to  7,000  feet)  crops  are  late,  but  as  soon  as  the 
lower  harvests  are  reaped  the  prices  will  fall  here  and 
grain  now  hoarded  will  be  released. 

"  Lastly  there  is  the  matter  of  levies.  Colonel  Kennion 
(Political)  guarantees  the  road  from  Qasr-i-Shirin  to 
Asadabad,  so  I  have  given  up  the  idea  of  raising  levies 
from  the  local  Kurds  in  that  section.  I  am  raising  one 
group  at  Hamadan,  and  later  intend  one  at  Kasvin, 
each  group  to  consist  of  one  squadron  of  cavalry  and  two 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  125 

companies  of  infantry,  total  strength  600,  with  6  British 
officers  to  each  group.  These  levies  will  not  take  the 
place  of  regular  troops,  nor  will  they  form  road-guards. 
They  Avill  be  used  to  deal  with  gangs  of  robbers,  to  round 
up  German  or  Turk  emissaries,  of  whom  there  are  many 
actively  employed  in  propaganda,  and  to  garrison  posts 
at  dangerous  places  on  the  roads. 

**  The  Persian  is  not  dangerous  as  a  fighting  man,  but 
he  will  be  more  dangerous  in  this  revolution  than  in  the 
previous  one,  because  the  country  is  full  of  arms  and 
ammunition  sold  by  the  Russian  soldiers  or  taken  from 
them,  and  also  provided  through  German  agencies. 

"  The  Turkish  advance  on  Tabriz  is  not  being  very 
vigorously  pressed,  and  we  may  be  able  with  the  aid 
of  the  Jilus  and  other  tribes  south  of  Lake  Urumiah  to 
thwart  them  entirely.  I  am  sending  in  a  day  or  two  a 
party  of  twelve  officers  and  eight  N.C.O.'s  towards  Tabriz 
to  organize  this  resistance.  The  recent  very  successful 
operations  from  Mesopotamia  against  the  Sinjabis  and 
the  defeat  of  the  Turks  at  Kifri  and  towards  Kirkuk  has 
enormously  improved  the  situation  in  Kurdistan  and  in 
Persia  generally,  and  will  possibly  also  affect  the  Turkish 
advance  south  of  Lake  Urumiah. 

"  The  only  opposition  to  the  entry  of  our  troops  into 
Persia  is  political.  The  people  are  glad  to  see  soldiers 
of  a  new  type  who  .  .  .  bring  with  them  law  and  order. 
But  even  the  political  difficulty  may  eventually  be  over- 
'come.  I  am  not  aware  of  our  Government's  attitude 
towards  the  democratic  movement  in  Persia,  but  I  assume 
that  we  make  the  Persians  feel  that,  being  a  democratic 
country  ourselves,  we  cannot  oppose  a  democratic  move- 
ment in  another  country,  and  we  are  not  out  to  support 
against  them  the  other  party  of  the  big  landowners. 
Nor  do  we  desire  the  hostility  of  the  latter,  who  have  a 
more  direct  influence  over  the  large  numbers  of  people  on 
their  land  than  the  democrats  are  ever  likely  to  have. 


126    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

It  is  obviously  difficult  to  support  the  moderate  democrat 
without  alienating  the  landowner,  or  at  any  rate  without 
driving  him  into  too  hostile  an  attitude.  It  is  perilously 
near  to  trying  to  run  with  the  hare  and  hunt  with  the 
hounds. 

"  I  have  collected  about  twenty  Russian  officers,  very 
specially  selected  and  all  capable  men,  mostly  aviators 
from  the  school  at  Baku,  with  a  view  to  seizing  any 
opportunity  that  may  occur  of  our  intervening  in  the 
Caucasus.  Meantime  they  are  useful  in  various  ways  and 
enable  us  to  kee^D  in  touch  with  Baku  and  to  get  reliable 
information. 

"  We  have  made  several  efforts  to  reach  Pike  at  Tiflis, 
but  have  not  succeeded  in  getting  direct  news  of  him  for 
a  long  time.  He  and  the  remainder  of  ours,  including 
Goldsmith  as  well  as  the  French  party  under  Colonel 
Chardigny,  are  probably  either  refugees  or  prisoners.  .  .  . 

"  The  winter  has  been  long  and  the  cold  very  severe, 
but  the  snow  has  now  melted,  except  on  the  hilltops,  and 
spring  has  begun.  Officers  and  men  have  kept  well,  and 
in  spite  of  a  very  arduous  time  there  have  been  only  a 
few  trifling  cases  of  sickness  among  the  first  party.  ..." 

Much  of  this  letter  is  a  recapitulation  of  events  already 
described,  but  it  will  be  useful  as  a  means  of  taking  stock 
of  events  up  to  date. 

My  Staff  was  now  strengthened  by  the  addition  of 
Lieut. -Colonel  Stokes,  who  joined  me  as  General  Staff 
Officer,  First  Grade,  for  Intelligence  duties.  I  considered 
it  important  to  work  up  our  information  from  the  Teheran 
side  and  accordingly  posted  him  to  the  capital,  where 
he  could  work  with  the  Military  Attache  at  the  Legation, 
constituting  a  liaison  between  my  force  and  the  diplomatic 
representative. 

Work  in  connection  with  the  raising  and  training  of 
the  Persian  levies  and  irregulars  had  begun  by  the  end, 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  127 

of  April,  and  I  will  explain  in  as  few  words  as  possible 
why  it  was  thought  advisable  to  raise  them  and  how  they 
were  raised. 

The  difference  between  the  levies  and  irregulars  may 
be  explained  briefly  as  follows.  The  levies  were  to  be 
regularly  formed  units  enlisted  from  the  surrounding 
districts,  and  employed  at  a  fixed  salary,  under  British 
officers,  in  guarding  dangerous  points  and  defiles  on  the 
road,  reconnoitring  the  country  for  enemy  spies  and 
agents,  and  furnishing  escorts  for  any  parties  of  mine 
moving  at  any  great  distance  from  Head  Quarters.  I 
knew  that  it  would  be  useless  to  employ  them  against 
the  Turks,  and  from  the  outset  I  had  no  intention 
of  putting  their  valour  to  this  test.  They  would  be 
good  enough  to  encounter  robber  bands,  but  were  not 
likely  to  face  the  fire  of  any  sort  of  regular  troops. 

The  irregulars,  on  the  other  hand,  were  meant  to  fight. 
They  were  to  be  raised  from  among  the  Kurds  and  other 
tribes  lying  along  any  probable  line  of  Turkish  advance. 
They  were  not  to  be  formed  into  regular  bodies,  nor 
submitted  to  the  regular  training  of  a  soldier  as  the 
levies  were. 

Levies  would  be  regularly  formed  and  trained,  would 
be  liable  to  service  anywhere,  but  could  not  be  relied  on 
to  fight  against  the  Turks.  Irregulars  were  merely  bands 
of  tribesmen  under  British  leadership,  not  liable  to  service 
anywhere  but  on  their  own  ground,  and  organized  only 
with  a  view  of  fighting  the  Turks  and  harassing  their 
communications. 

Before  we  could  do  anything  on  the  lines  of  "  irregulars  " 
it  would  be  necessary  to  get  thoroughly  in  touch  with  the 
tribes,  and  this  was  accomplished  by  the  dispatch  of 
Major  Starnes'  party  to  Bijar,  and  Major  Wagstaff^s 
to  Zinjan.  But  with  the  levies  we  could  and  did  make 
an  immediate  start. 

In  neither  case  did  we  contemplate  arming  these  forces. 


128    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

There  was  no  necessity  to  issue  arms  in  a  country  where 
nearly  every  man  possessed  a  good  rifle  and  a  quantity 
of  ammunition. 

The  disadvantages  of  not  arming  them  were,  firstly 
the  heterogeneous  nature  of  the  arms  employed,  secondly 
the  difficulties  of  ammunition  supply  during  a  fight,  and 
thirdly  the  reluctance  of  each  man  as  owner  of  his  rifle 
and  ammunition  to  risk  losing  the  former  and  expending 
the  latter.  But  the  great  advantage  which  outweighed 
all  these  considerations  was  that  we  were  saved  the  trouble 
and  difficulty  of  supplying  the  arms,  and  we  removed  the 
chief  incentive  to  desertion.  With  no  sort  of  civil  control 
over  the  tribes,  to  issue  rifles  to  men  would  have  been  to 
put  a  premium  on  desertions,  and  the  men  would  have 
left  for  their  homes,  never  to  reappear,  the  day  they 
received  their  rifles  from  us. 

As  regards  the  other  disadvantages  mentioned  above, 
rules  were  framed  without  great  difficulty  removing  the 
reluctance  to  risk  loss  of  arms  or  expenditure  of  ammu- 
nition by  a  system  of  rewards  and  compensation.  Uniform 
was  made  up  and  issued  on  the  spot,  and  in  a  few  days 
Major  Engledue  and  Captain  Henderson,  in  charge  of  the 
first  Hamadan  group,  were  able  to  turn  out  some  very 
stalwart-looking  soldiers,  who  proved  very  useful  in  this 
land  where  "  looks  "  go  for  so  much. 

As  regards  the  isolated  picquets  placed  at  points  of 
danger  on  the  road  later  on,  these  would  probably  have 
put  up  only  a  very  feeble  resistance  to  any  sort  of  attack 
by  well-armed  robber  bands,  but  here  again  we  relied  on 
*'  looks,"  and  they  won  the  day.  The  intending  marauders 
became  aware  of  these  uniformed  detachments  at  certain 
points ;  they  didn't  like  the  "  look  "  of  their  rifles  or  their 
British  leaders,  so  they  adopted  the  line  of  least  resistance 
and  left  the  road  alone. 

The  levies  were  to  be  raised  in  three  groups,  two  at 
Hamadan  and  one  at  Kasvin.     Each  group  consisted  of 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  129 

two  companies  of  dismounted  men  each  two  hundred 
strong  and  one  of  mounted  men  of  the  same  strength, 
making  a  total  of  600  men.  The  companies  were  com- 
manded by  Persian  officers,  and  the  British  personnel 
acted  only  as  instructors  in  cantonments  and  leaders  in 
the  field.  The  first  group  at  Hamadan  was  raised  by 
Major  Engledue  from  the  local  people  without  reference 
to  any  particular  tribal  connections.  The  second  group 
was  raised  by  Major  Macarthy  and  consisted  of  a  solid 
block  of  men  taken  entirely  from  the  tenantry  of  a  big 
landowner,  and  regarded  as  his  special  corps,  to  the  upkeep 
and  maintenance  of  which  he  was  willing  to  subscribe. 
These  two  groups  very  soon  furnished  us  with  sufi&cient 
men  for  our  immediate  purposes,  and  were  most  useful 
to  us.  The  Kasvin  group  was  naturally  more  diiBficult 
to  start  as  we  had  not  yet  made  ourselves  properly  known 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  men  were  shy  about 
coming  in  to  enlist  under  total  strangers.  But  they  came 
along  in  twos  and  threes  and  we  soon  had  enough  men 
there  to  help  us  in  carrying  out  minor  police  duties. 

Although  not  much  of  an  addition  to  our  fighting 
strength,  these  levies  were  very  useful,  and  more  than 
justified  their  existence.  Among  other  advantages  was 
the  fact  that  our  dealings  with  them  brought  us  very 
intimately  into  touch  with  a  large  circle  of  the  people, 
and  this  was  a  very  valuable  political  gain. 

Mistakes  were  bound  to  occur  in  our  early  efforts, 
and  among  these  were  the  fact  that  we  accidentally 
enlisted  a  complete  gang  of  robbers,  who  came  to  us  not 
for  our  benefit  or  for  that  of  their  fellow-countrymen,  but 
for  their  own.  Their  idea  was  to  obtain  pay,  uniform 
and  authority  from  us,  and  then  use  the  latter  to  extort 
money  from  the  Persians ;  in  fact  the  only  contemplated 
change  in  their  careers  was  that,  from  being  unlicensed 
robbers,  they  were  now  to  become  licensed.  Their 
method  of  procedure  would  be  merely  an  enlightened 

10 


130    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

re-reading  of  orders.  The  orders  you  give  are :  "  All 
people  on  this  road  are  to  be  stopped  " — they  read  this, 
**  People  can  only  go  down  this  road  if  they  pay  for  the 
privilege  "  ;  you  order,  "  All  armed  men  are  to  be  dis- 
armed " — they  issue  the  improved  version,  "  Nobody  is 
allowed  to  carry  arms  without  paying  a  handsome  fee 
to  us."  In  addition  to  this,  another  favourite  method 
is  to  undertake  the  duties  of  escort  to  some  well-to-do 
person,  and  then  at  a  convenient  opportunity  to  change 
their  role  from  guardian  to  highwayman,  and  relieve 
their  charge  of  his  superfluous  wealth. 

I  do  not  say  that  any  of  our  men  were  guilty  of  these 
things ;  the  Persians  made  such  accusations  against 
them,  but  they  would  have  accused  them  just  as 
vehemently  whether  they  had  done  the  deeds  or  not. 
In  any  case,  if  they  had  such  intentions,  their  career  was 
cut  very  short,  as  on  their  proclivities  being  discovered 
they  were  soon  weeded  out  as  undesirables. 

The  usual  opposition  to  all  our  enterprises  was  set 
on  foot  by  the  local  Democratic  Committee.  The  town 
was  informed  by  printed  manifestoes  that  to  serve  the 
English  was  to  incur  everlasting  disgrace,  and  that  the 
assassin's  knife  would  punish  any  who  yielded  to  such 
base  temptation.  But  recruiting  went  on  very  well  in 
spite  of  all  this,  and  the  murderous  threats  were  never 
put  into  execution. 

The  irregulars  did  not  develop  till  later  on,  but  I  may 
mention  them  briefly  here.  The  Turks  had  two  divi- 
sions round  Lake  Urumiah  and  were  holding  the 
country  as  far  south  of  the  lake  as  Sakiz,  100  miles 
in  our  direction.  Major  Starnes  was  dispatched  with 
a  small  party  to  Bijar,  100  miles  north-west  of 
Hamadan,  to  guard  our  flank  against  any  sudden  move 
of  the  Turks  from  Sakiz.  The  150  miles  of  country 
between  Bijar  and  Sakiz  was  peopled  by  tribes  with  a 
genuine    reputation    for    valour    and    warlike    instincts. 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  131 

These  tribes  both  the  Turks  and  ourselves  endeavoured 
to  use  against  each  other  by  offering  rewards  for 
services  rendered  as  levies  or  irregulars.  The  equal 
endeavour  resulted  more  or  less  in  stalemate,  which 
was  not  an  altogether  unsatisfactory  position  from  our 
point  of  view.  Had  we  made  no  effort  in  this  direction 
the  Turks  would  soon  have  been  in  Bijar  (as  they 
already  were  in  Sinneh,  100  miles  south-west  of  that 
place),  and  our  position  on  the  Hamadan  road  would 
have  been  very  seriously  threatened.  As  it  was,  we 
were  never  worried  here  at  all,  owing  to  the  good  work 
effected  by  Major  Starnes'  party  among  the  Bijar 
people. 

Exactly  similar  work  was  done  by  Major  Wagstaff's 
party  on  the  Kasvin-Tabriz  road,  among  the  Shah- 
savens.  His  party  was  pushed  out  in  the  same  way  towards 
the  Turks,  and  acted  as  a  very  efficient  shield  for  our 
movements  on  the  Hamadan-Kasvin  road,  until  at  last 
the  Turks  advanced  in  force  in  September  and  drove 
us  back  as  far  as  Zinjan. 

Among  the  most  influential  men  in  this  neighbour- 
hood was  the  Amir  Afshar,  a  very  remarkable  old 
gentleman,  whom  I  met  by  appointment  in  Hamadan 
when  he  was  staying  there  as  the  guest  of  the  Amir 
Afgham.  He  is  over  eighty  years  of  age  and  a  con- 
firmed drug-taker,  but  for  a  few  hours  in  the  morning 
his  mind  is  as  clear  as  crystal ;  my  visit  to  him  was 
therefore  paid  at  the  unearthly  hour  of  5.30  a.m.  His 
estates  are  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Zinjan,  and  he  could 
easily  put  up  over  1,000  men  from  among  his  tenants  ; 
but  he  wanted  rather  a  large  price  for  his  services. 
Firstly  he  complained  that  the  Russians  had  punished 
his  tribe,  on  a  groundless  accusation  of  pro-Turk  pro- 
clivities, by  taking  away  from  them  a  thousand  rifles. 
I  must  get  these  back  from  General  Baratov.  Secondly, 
whether  I  got  these  rifles  back  for  him  or  not,  he  wanted 


132    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

a  thousand  rifles  from  me  to  enable  him  to  take  on  the 
serious  programme  I  wished  him  to  adopt.  Thirdly 
(and  very  wisely),  he  would  do  nothing  actively  against 
the  troops  unless  he  saw  our  troops  at  hand  to  save 
him  from  Turkish  vengeance,  which  would  be  bound 
to  fall  on  him  if  unsupported  by  us  and  defeated  by  the 
Turks.  This  was  a  form  of  support  it  was  difficult  for 
me  to  guarantee. 

In  the  end  I  was  led  to  expect  very  little  active 
support  from  him  in  the  face  of  my  failure  to  agree  to 
his  third  clause.  I  sent  him  250  rifles  (captured  Turkish 
rifles  sent  up  to  me  for  this  purpose  from  Baghdad) 
to  see  if  that  would  induce  the  right  frame  of  mind. 
He  acknowledged  them  with  a  very  flowery  letter  of 
thanks  and  asked  for  more.  To  this  I  replied  that  he 
should  have  as  many  more  as  soon  as  he  balanced  the 
account  by  letting  us  have  250  armed  men  of  his  tribe 
for  active  operations.  I  explained  further  that  when 
he  had  received  500  rifles  from  me  I  should  expect  to 
see  500  of  his  men  in  the  field.  But  the  250  rifles  failed 
to  bring  about  the  result  I  aimed  at,  and  he  got  no  more 
from  us.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  these  tribes 
were  willing  enough  to  back  the  winning  horse,  but 
could  not  make  up  their  minds  as  to  which  was  likely 
to  be  the  winner. 

The  news  from  France  at  this  time  was  of  the  very 
worst  description  from  our  point  of  view ;  the  victori- 
ous German  thrust  towards  Amiens  which  had  begun 
in  March  was  well  advertised  by  German  wireless  as 
far  as  Hamadan,  where  it  was  picked  up  by  the  Russian 
wireless  and  disseminated  among  the  people.  The 
fact  that  the  German  advance  was  now  checked  and 
that  there  were  signs  of  a  turn  of  the  tide  was  naturally 
omitted  in  bulletins  from  German  sources,  and  news 
from  our  sources  was  regarded  with  considerable  sus- 
picion.   On  the  whole  it  looked  to  the  Persians  as  if  Ger- 


I 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  133 

many  was  going  to  win  the  war,  and  if  she  did  it  meant 
a  triumphant  Turkey  who  would  ruthlessly  exterminate 
any  tribes  who  had  opposed  her  in  the  days  of  her  trouble. 
Moreover,  if  we  won  and  the  Turks  lost,  we  would 
eventually  go  away  and  the  Turks  would  remain  very 
close  at  hand,  so  that  even  in  that  case  they  could  make 
it  very  uncomfortable  for  any  who  had  shown  hostility 
to  them. 

It  was  partly  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  our 
attitude  towards  these  tribes  as  embodied  in  our  general 
policy  in  Persia  that  I  decided  to  visit  His  Britannic 
Majesty's  Minister  at  Teheran  at  this  time. 

We  left  Hamadan  on  May  12th,  arriving  at  Kasvin 
on  the  next  day  and  staying  the  night  there.  At  Kasvin 
we  were  glad  to  find  that  Major  Hay  had  been  able  to 
get  excellent  quarters  for  his  party  in  a  large  house 
belonging  to  one  of  the  best-known  representatives  of  the 
Persian  aristocracy,  the  Sipah-Salar.  This  house  stood 
in  its  own  extensive  grounds  on  the  west-ern  outskirts 
of  the  town,  and  was  so  situated  that  the  occupants 
were  able  to  have  first  turn  at  the  water  supply  which 
enters  the  town  from  this  side.  The  building  had  up 
to  this  time  been  used  by  the  Russians  as  a  hospital, 
and  was  admirably  adapted  to  our  purposes. 

Famine  relief  on  a  small  scale  had  been  started  in 
the  town,  the  people  were  becoming  accustomed  to  the 
sight  of  English  faces  and  English  uniforms,  and  the 
scowls  which  had  formerly  greeted  us  were  already 
exchanged  for  smiles  or  looks  of  indifference. 

On  May  14th  we  left  for  Teheran,  distant  about 
ninety  miles  from  Kasvin,  and  arrived  in  the  British 
Legation  in  the  afternoon.  The  road  from  Kasvin  to 
Teheran  runs  due  east  along  the  foot  of  the  southern 
slopes  of  the  Elburz  Mountains.  The  surface  is  good, 
but  the  Russian  road  company  had  attempted  very  little 
in  the  way  of  engineering,  choosing  a  straight  line  up 


134    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

and  down  each  rise  and  fall  of  the  natural  lie  of  the 
land,  and  avoiding  any  expense  in  the  way  of  cutting  or 
embankment. 

The  country  is  treeless  and  for  the  most  part  uncul- 
tivated, while  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Elburz 
Mountains  that  flank  the  road  on  the  left-hand  side 
are  as  barren  as  the  usual  hills  in  Persia,  and  give  no 
indication  of  the  wonderful  forest  land  that  lies  on 
their  northern  slopes. 

At  our  entry  into  Teheran  we  were  challenged  and 
halted  by  a  guard  of  Persian  gendarmes,  and  were  only 
permitted  to  proceed  after  solemnly  entering  in  a  book 
our  names  and  our  father's  names,  and  giving  an  assur- 
ance that  we  were  not  conveying  arms  into  the  town. 

Teheran  has  a  very  Europeanized  appearance,  and 
is  quite  unlike  any  of  the  other  towns  with  which  we 
had  so  far  made  acquaintance.  The  roads  were  broad 
and  in  many  places  lined  with  handsome  trees,  while 
frequent  signboards  in  French  and  Russian  notified 
the  presence  of  numerous  hotels  and  emporiums  of 
every  kind.  But  the  general  aspect  of  the  town  is  not 
very  pleasing,  and  its  lack  of  beauty  renders  that  of  the 
Legation  grounds  more  intense  by  contrast. 

It  is  hard  to  describe  the  beauties  of  this  wonderful 
oasis.  To  those  who  have  visited  Kashmir  it  recalls 
the  memory  of  the  old  Moghul  gardens  on  the  Dal  Lake, 
and  gives  an  idea  of  what  those  gardens  must  have 
looked  like  in  the  days  of  their  youth.  But  its  beauty 
is  enhanced  by  the  abruptness  of  the  transition  from 
unbeautiful  things,  as  the  traveller  turns  from  a  dusty 
street,  after  ninety  miles  of  treeless  road,  into  a  fairy- 
like grove  of  magnificent  plane-trees.  And  when  night 
falls  and  the  nightingales  start  to  sing,  it  is  hard  to 
realize  that  one  is  really  living  in  these  horrible  days 
of  war  and  bloodshed. 

The   Austrian  and  German  prisoners  moving  freely 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  185 

in  the  streets,  and  the  sight  of  the  German  and  Turkish 
flags  flying  over  their  respective  Legations,  added  to  the 
air  of  unreality. 

We  stayed  three  days  at  Teheran,  during  which 
time  I  had  the  honour  of  making  the  acquaintance  of 
the  American,  French  and  Russian  Ministers,  and  of 
many  of  the  important  Persians,  including  the  Sipah- 
Salar  and  the  two  sons  of  the  Firman-Firma,  who  are 
likely  to  play  a  prominent  part  in  the  future  of  Persia. 

I  spent  the  early  mornings  riding  with  Major  Bart- 
telot ;  the  later  hours  of  the  mornings  and  the  whole 
of  the  afternoons  were  devoted  to  interviews  from 
which  I  derived  much  value. 

On  May  17th  we  left  Teheran,  stayed  the  night  in 
Kasvin  and  reached  Hamadan  on  the  evening  of  the 
18th,  finding  the  journey  a  very  different  affair  from 
what  it  had  been  in  the  winter. 

Although  the  country  is  treeless,  and  the  unirrigated 
tracts  are  very  barren-looking,  the  whole  ground  is 
carpeted  in  this  one  month  with  very  beautiful  flowers. 
On  the  higher  passes  we  enjoyed  the  sight  of  large  red 
tulips  and  several  kinds  of  iris,  while  lower  down  the 
hillsides  were  bright  with  the  varied  hues  of  many 
unknown  flowers.  These  thrive  for  a  very  short  time  on 
the  water  provided  by  the  melting  snow,  and  as  there 
is  no  rainfall  in  summer  they  are  soon  burnt  up,  and 
the  landscape  resumes  its  aspect  of  dreary   monotony. 

The  most  beautiful  flowers  were  those  on  the  top 
of  the  Sultan-Bulaq  Pass,  exactly  in  the  spot  where  we 
found  seven  corpses  of  unfortunate  victims  of  the  famine. 
Such  corpses  strewed  the  road  between  Kasvin  and 
Hamadan  at  intervals  throughout  its  length. 

The  general  discomfort  of  a  long  drive  in  small  cars 
over  rather  rough  roads  was  very  much  increased  by 
the  necessity  of  taking  back  with  us  to  Kasvin  several 
prisoners   who   had  recently  been   rounded    up  by  our 


136    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

agents  and  by  Bicherakov's  Cossacks.  It  was  becoming 
very  diJ0ficult  for  enemy  agents  to  get  through  the  nets 
that  were  spread  for  them  in  every  direction.  With 
our  small  forces  we  could  not  scour  the  entire  country, 
and  with  regard  to  movements  off  roads  we  could  only 
rely  on  information  from  our  agents,  but  we  were  able 
to  render  movement  on  the  main  roads  quite  impossible. 
The  road  company  had  established  toUgates  about  every 
thirty  miles  along  the  road,  and  these  we  held  with  small 
parties  of  ofi&cers  and  levies,  and  were  thus  able  to  keep 
a  minute  check  on  all  traffic. 

The  present  batch  of  prisoners  included  one  German 
civilian  and  one  Hungarian  officer  with  his  wife  and 
child.  This  officer  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Russians  early  in  the  war,  had  been  released  in  Turkestan 
when  the  revolution  broke  out  and,  seeing  no  chance 
of  getting  home  to  Hungary,  had  married  a  Caucasian 
lady,  and  was  now  the  father  of  a  promising  infant. 
Having  heard  of  the  prospect  of  well-paid  service  under 
Kuchik  Khan,  he  was  on  his  way  with  his  family  to 
join  that  leader  when  he  was  arrested.  The  lady  and 
child  presented  such  difficulties  that  one  almost  wished 
he  had  been  successful  in  slipping  through  our  fingers. 
I  was  fated  to  have  them  for  companions  throughout 
the  interminable  day,  as  I  was  the  only  possessor  of  a 
touring  car,  and  it  was  hardly  fair  to  submit  a  lady,  even 
though  a  prisoner,  to  the  discomfort  of  a  Ford  van. 

I  unfortunately  gave  away  the  fact  that  I  spoke 
Russian,  and  I  shall  never  regret  anything  so  much  in  all 
my  life.  We  were  all  very  bright  and  cheerful  in  the  early 
hours  of  the  day,  Madame  explaining  that  she  had  never 
been  in  a  motor-car  before  and  was  enjoying  the  trip  very 
much.  But  after  some  hours  the  charm  of  novelty  wore 
off,  and  its  place  was  taken  by  quite  another  sensation. 
The  lady  explained  that  the  unaccustomed  motion  was 
making  her  feel  sick,  and  thereafter  frequent  halts  had 


A  PAUSE  AT  HAMADAN  137 

to  be  made  to  enable  her  to  deal  with  this  dilemma.  I 
was  extremely  sorry  for  the  poor  woman,  who  was  very 
plucky  about  it,  and  bobbed  up  quite  *'  merry  and  bright  " 
after  each  episode,  announcing  her  firm  intention  of 
becoming  accustomed  to  the  motion,  but  her  pluck  was 
not  rewarded  with  any  improvement  in  this  respect. 
I  was  as  delighted  as  she  was  when  we  eventually  reached 
Hamadan  and  I  was  able  to  hand  her  over  to  the  kind 
ministrations  of  Mrs.  Funk,  a  lady  of  the  American  mission. 

My  short  visit  to  Teheran,  and  a  useful  interview  I 
had  had  with  Bicherakov  at  Kasvin,  had  decided  me  to 
give  up  Hamadan  entirely  as  Head  Quarters  and  to  move 
forward  to  Kasvin.  Many  schemes  were  now  coming  to 
a  head.  Matters  must  soon  be  settled  one  way  or  another 
with  the  Jangalis,  and  it  would  be  easier  to  deal  with  these 
affairs  if  I  were  on  the  spot  at  Kasvin  than  to  do  so  by 
messengers  and  telegrams  from  Hamadan.  Moreover,  I 
had  also,  on  my  way  through  Kasvin,  got  in  touch  with 
certain  Russian  agents  who  were  willing  to  be  of  service 
in  connection  with  any  enterprise  in  the  Baku  direction. 
These  latter  belonged  to  the  Social-Revolutionary  party, 
and  it  was  due  to  their  influence  that  the  Bolshevik  power 
in  Baku  was  eventually  overthrown. 

We  had  also  to  think  of  our  prisoners  in  the  hands  of 
the  Jangalis — Captain  Noel,  Mr.  Oakshot  (of  the  Bank), 
and  Mr.  Maclaren  (the  Consul) — and  see  if  any  plan  for 
their  rescue  or  release  could  be  devised.  So  far  we  had 
been  able  to  do  nothing  for  them,  and  it  was  difficult 
to  see  how  we  could  effect  their  release  except  by 
Kuchik  Khan. 

Having  decided  therefore  to  shift  Head  Quarters  to 
Kasvin,  I  sent  General  Byron  up  there  with  three  Staff 
Officers,  to  enable  him  to  make  himself  acquainted  with 
the  neighbourhood  before  taking  over  the  command  of 
Hamadan  and  the  lines  of  communication  which  I  would 
hand  over  to  him  on  departure.     General  Byron  was  also 


h 


138    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

able  to  go  into  the  question  of  supplies,  billets  etc.,  and 
to  select  a  suitable  residence  for  Head  Quarters. 

On  May  25th  Colonel  Key  worth  arrived,  bringing  with 
him  the  fourth  party  composed  of  50  officers  and  150 
N.C.O.'s,  a  splendid  addition  to  our  numbers,  enabling 
us  to  put  full  pressure  on  to  many  schemes  that  had  been 
languishing  for  want  of  personnel.  This  party,  as  well 
as  the  previous  one,  had  walked  all  the  way  and  seemed 
very  fit  after  their  long  march.  They  brought  with  them 
the  specially  selected  Russian  officers  who  had  been  sent 
out  from  home.  These  officers  were  mostly  from  regiments 
of  the  Russian  Guard,  and  many  of  them  in  the  Guards 
cavalry.  The  experience  of  footing  it  through  Persia  was 
one  they  had  never  expected  to  enjoy,  but  they  were  a 
cheerful  community  and  there  was  no  disposition  to 
grumble. 


CHAPTER  IX 
A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE 

WE    left   Hamadan   for    Kasvin   on   June    1,    1918, 
almost  exactly  four  months  after  our  departure 
from  Baghdad. 

During  those  four  months  work  of  considerable  value 
had  been  accomplished  and  we  were  entitled  to  regard 
our  achievements  in  Persia  with  some  satisfaction.  But 
this  feeling  of  satisfaction  in  no  way  removed  the  sting 
of  our  original  failure,  and  all  felt  elated  with  the  certainty 
that  the  advance  of  Head  Quarters  to  Kasvin  was  but 
the  prelude  to  an  entry  into  the  promised  land  of  the 
Caucasus.  When  the  moment  for  that  entry  would  come 
none  could  tell.  If  troops  had  been  available  the  moment 
would  have  been  to-day,  but  in  the  absence  of  troops  it 
was  necessary  to  endure  the  delay  of  securing  a  footing 
in  Baku  and  to  endeavour  to  neutralize  it  by  means  of 
intrigue.  Every  day's  delay  in  our  movement  brought 
the  Turks  nearer  to  the  oil  city,  and  the  probabilities  were 
that  our  second  failure  would  be  brought  about  by  their 
capture  of  the  town  before  we  could  get  our  enterprise 
further  under  way. 

Meantime  it  can  easily  be  understood  that  it  was  very 
difficult  to  run  the  Persian  venture  at  full  pressure  and 
at  the  same  time  to  manipulate  affairs  in  such  a  way  that 
when  the  word  came  to  cross  the  Caspian,  we  should  be 
able  to  take  with  us  the  necessary  complement  of  selected 

139 


140    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

officers  and  N.C.O.'s.  This  in  the  end  proved  impossible. 
To  have  worked  on  such  lines  would  have  contributed 
greatly  towards  our  success  in  the  Caucasus,  but  would 
have  endangered  the  success  of  our  many  schemes  in 
Persia.  The  proper  fulfilment  of  these  schemes  demanded 
our  best  and  had  to  have  them.  When,  therefore,  the 
time  eventually  came  to  risk  the  Baku  venture  the  greater 
proportion  of  officers  and  men  were  already  employed  in 
Persia  in  tasks  from  which  they  could  not  be  relieved 
without  risking  entire  dislocation.  A  considerable  staff 
was  necessary  for  the  administration  of  Persian  towns, 
a  large  number  of  officers  were  required  for  the  levies 
and  irregulars ;  intelligence  and  supplies  absorbed  a 
great  many,  and  the  balance  that  would  be  available 
for  service  in  Baku  would  be  but  small. 

It  is  necessary  to  explain  how  an  undertaking, 
originally  based  on  the  idea  of  getting  to  Tiflis  and 
reorganizing  local  troops  there  against  the  Turks,  had 
now  been  diverted  into  the  fresh  channel  of  the  Baku 
adventure. 

When  the  Tiflis  plan  proved  to  be  quite  out  of  our 
reach  and  it  was  certain  that  the  enemy  would  soon  be 
in  full  possession  of  the  South  Caucasus,  the  question 
arose  as  to  what  must  now  be  undertaken  to  hinder 
him  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  conquest.  It  was  obviously 
impossible  to  allow  him  a  free  hand. 

The  capture  of  Baku  by  the  enemy  would  give  him 
ample  stocks  of  oil  for  the  running  of  the  Caucasian  railway 
lines  and  the  Black  Sea  shipping  (the  oil  is  pumped  in 
pipes  from  Baku  to  Batoum),  and  it  would  mean  the 
control  by  him  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  with  all  the  valuable 
supplies  obtainable  from  the  various  ports  on  its  shores, 
and  an  open  door  to  Asia  and  Afghanistan.  Any  enemy 
scheme  of  penetration  into  Asia  through  Turkestan  would 
be  greatly  facilitated  by  the  large  numbers  of  released 
Austrian  prisoners  set  at  liberty  in  that  country  by  the 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  141 

revolutionaries,  and  now  wandering  about  ready  to  under- 
take any  task  that  would  procure  them  their  daily  bread. 
It  was  probable  that  there  were  as  many  as  30,000  of  these 
released  Austrians,  and  it  was  from  their  ranks  that  the 
Bolshevik  army  lately  operating  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Merv  and  Askabad  had  been  chiefly  recruited. 

On  the  other  hand  the  possession  of  Baku  by  us  would 
mean  the  converse  of  these  propositions  :  denial  of  the 
stocks  of  oil  to  the  enemy,  and  the  closing  of  the  door  to 
Central  Asia.  The  retention  of  the  oil  in  our  hands  would 
eventually  stop  all  movement  of  the  South  Caucasian 
railways  which  are  normally  dependent  on  this  source 
of  fuel. 

To  sum  up  then,  our  new  plan  was  to  get  control  of 
the  Caspian  and,  as  this  could  only  be  achieved  by  securing 
Baku,  to  save  this  town  from  the  clutches  of  the  enemy. 
Its  importance  was  enormous  and  any  risk  was  justified 
in  our  endeavour  to  secure  it. 

It  can  easily  be  understood  how  hard  it  was  to  con- 
centrate on  the  Baku  problem  without  endangering  the 
Persian  situation.  We  had  with  great  pains  built  up  a 
fairly  solid  position  in  North  Persia,  and  this  position  was 
founded  on  the  abilities  of  the  various  officers  selected 
for  each  appointment.  To  remove  them  from  their 
Persian  responsibilities  at  a  moment's  notice  and  throw 
them  into  the  Baku  scheme  would  be  equivalent  to 
pulling  out  the  foundation  stones  of  the  building. 

With  Head  Quarters  at  Kasvin,  we  should  be  in  a 
position  to  make  the  best  solution  possible  of  the  difficult 
problem  before  us,  and  to  seize  the  first  fleeting  opportunity 
of  a  move  to  the  Caspian.  We  arrived  on  June  1st 
and  installed  ourselves  in  a  comfortable  house  belonging 
to  the  American  missionaries,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  Sipah-Salar's  house,  and  at  once  set  to  work,  as  at 
Hamadan,  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  local  notables, 
while  General  Byron  returned  to  Hamadan  to  take  over 


142    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

command  there.  An  aerodrome  had  to  be  built  to  receive 
the  four  aeroplanes  allotted  to  the  force,  and  landing 
grounds  were  made  here,  at  Zinjan  and  at  Mianeh  :  the 
one  at  Hamadan  had  been  constructed  a  month  ago. 

We  found  Kasvin  a  very  different  town  from 
Hamadan.  In  population  it  is  about  the  same,  with 
probably  50,000  inhabitants.  The  attitude  of  the  people 
and  the  politicians  was  the  same  as  in  Hamadan,  the 
former  anxious  to  be  friendly,  the  latter  stirring  up 
hatred  and  ill-feeling  against  us. 

The  town  lies  at  an  elevation  of  4,000  feet  above  sea- 
level,  about  10  miles  from  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Elburz 
Mountains  :  it  is  not  in  any  way  remarkable  for  natural 
beauty  or  striking  architecture,  but  the  houses  in  general 
have  a  rather  more  ambitious  appearance  than  those  of 
Hamadan.  In  fact  the  outstanding  difference  between 
the  two  towns  is  that  Hamadan  is  distinctly  a  provincial 
town,  while  Kasvin  tries  hard  to  look  like  a  city.  It 
endeavours  to  achieve  this  result  by  means  of  numerous 
inns  with  the  grand  names  of  all  the  best-known  hotels 
in  Europe,  and  by  European  shops  with  actual  plate -glass 
windows,  looking  very  ugly  and  out  of  place  in  an  Oriental 
town.  These  shops  display  a  variety  of  goods,  from  ladies* 
white  satin  high-heeled  shoes  to  gents'  summer  suitings 
at  sale  prices,  reminding  us  of  much  that  is  least  attractive 
in  our  own  country. 

Where  Russians  are,  there  will  be  many  hair  cutters, 
and  Kasvin  is  full  of  excellent  barbers*  shops  chiefly  kept 
by  Armenians  and  Greeks.  As  long  as  the  Russians  remain 
these  shops  may  make  a  living,  but  the  English  soldier 
pays  less  attention  to  his  coiffure,  and  when  the  Russians 
depart  a  good  many  barbers  will  have  to  put  up  their 
shutters  and  choose  some  other  means  of  livelihood. 

The  commercial  population  of  the  town  is  very  cos- 
mopolitan. There  is  a  large  Russian  colony,  and  the 
retiring  troops  have  left  behind  them  a  horde  of  women 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  143 

and  children,  who  are  apparently  anxious  to  follow  their 
lords  and  masters  but  don't  quite  know  how  to  do  so. 
Bicherakov's  troops  are  also  here,  and  a  goodly  number 
of  Russian  ne'er-do-weels,  many  of  whom  are  in  touch 
with  the  Enzeli  Bolsheviks  and  looking  for  an  oppor- 
tunity of  thwarting  our  plans. 

With  such  a  population  it  is  much  harder  to  deal  with 
the  question  of  enemy  agents  than  it  was  in  Hamadan. 
There  any  one  with  a  white  or  semi-white  face  could  be 
arrested  on  sight,  and  was  certain  to  be  an  individual 
who  ought  not  to  be  at  large.  Here  if  you  wished  to 
carry  out  such  procedure,  you  would  have  to  arrest  half 
the  town. 

Bicherakov  kept  order  in  a  rough-and-ready  sort  of 
way,  and  his  trusty  lieutenant  Sovlaiev  was  quite  prepared 
to  take  the  risk  of  arresting  many  harmless  people  in 
the  hopes  that  there  might  be  a  guilty  one  somewhere 
in  the  bunch.  As  I  had  to  take  over  and  deal  with  these 
prisoners,  I  soon  found  the  large  numbers  of  indiscriminate 
arrests  rather  embarrassing.  I  complained  on  one  occasion 
that  I  had  rather  a  lot  of  these  suspects  on  my  hands,  and 
as  there  appeared  to  be  nothing  at  all  against  the  majority 
of  them  1  proposed  to  release  them.  To  this  Sovlaiev 
retorted,  *'  There  very  likely  is  nothing  against  most  of 
them,  but  one  can  never  tell.  I  don't  like  the  looks  of 
any  of  them.  I  suggest  you  need  not  punish  or  confine 
any  of  them  ;  just  run  them  all  down  to  Baghdad  in  a 
motor-lorry  and  let  them  walk  home.  That  will  help  to 
keep  their  heads  cool." 

Sovlaiev  was  a  magnificent  type  of  Ossietin  from  the 
same  district  in  the  North  Caucasus  as  Bicherakov.  He 
stood  about  5  feet  9  inches  in  height  and  was  splendidly 
proportioned,  with  a  muscular  development  that  boded 
ill  for  any  who  fell  into  his  clutches,  and  as  he  carried 
out  most  of  his  arrests  in  person  his  prisoners  could 
generally  testify  to  the  strength  of  his  grip.     His  methods 


144    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

were  probably  those  best  suited  to  a  very  difficult  situation, 
where  it  was  impossible  to  get  very  exact  evidence  against 
any  particular  person.  On  one  occasion  he  flew  into  the 
Hotel  de  France  to  arrest  the  proprietor,  but  the  latter 
saw  him  coming  and  fled  by  a  back  door.  Baulked  of 
his  prey  Sovlaiev  gave  a  sound  hammering  to  all  of  the 
establishment  who  were  within  reach  and,  determined  not 
to  come  back  empty-handed,  marched  off  in  triumph  with 
the  innocent  chef  de  cuisine  ! 

We  found  prices  in  Kasvin  about  the  same  as  in 
Hamadan,  but  supplies  were  not  difficult  to  obtain.  Food 
was  quite  good  but  never  up  to  the  standard  of  a  private 
soldier's  ration,  and-our  rate  of  messing,  for  the  simplest 
diet  was  30  krans,  or  just  under  £1  a  day.  Officers  receive 
an  allowance  of  £1  a  day  for  food  and  lodging  ;  but  the 
cost  of  living  was  never  within  that  sum,  and  later  was 
much  above  it. 

Wheat  remained  at  abnormal  famine  prices,  though 
the  new  crop  would  soon  be  harvested,  and  there  were 
still  large  stocks  of  the  old  crop  unsold.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  famine  was  to  some  extent  artificial.  Although 
there  had  been  much  loss  owing  to  a  bad  season  in  1917 
and  the  Russian  troops  had  made  large  demands,  still  as 
this  part  of  Persia  is  so  fertile  that  in  normal  seasons  most 
of  the  valleys  are  capable  of  producing  seven  times  the 
requirements  of  the  people,  it  seems  certain  that  any 
possibility  of  famine  in  this  country  would  be  removed 
if  one  were  able  to  introduce  a  system  of  wheat  control. 

In  Kasvin  we  were  much  more  in  touch  with  the 
Russians,  and  I  was  able  to  have  frequent  conferences 
with  Bicherakov  as  to  plans  for  the  immediate  future, 
which  involved  the  settlement  of  the  Jangali  affair,  and 
for  the  more  distant  future,  which  concerned  the  possibility 
of  our  getting  a  footing  in  the  Caucasus.  Discussions  on 
the  latter  point  were  rendered  difficult  owing  to  the  fact 
that  I  had  no  power  or  authority  to  guarantee  anything, 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  145 

and  Bicherakov  often  petulantly  exclaimed,  *'  How  can  I 
fix  up  any  arrangement  with  you,  when  you  have  no 
troops,  and  cannot  even  assure  me  that  you  are  going  to 
get  any."  Moreover  I  had,  since  the  failure  of  our  original 
plans,  received  no  authority  to  undertake  anything  in 
the  Baku  direction.  But  as  the  control  of  the  Caspian 
was  still  our  aim,  I  felt  sure  that  the  authorities  would 
eventually  be  convinced  that  control  of  that  sea  would 
rest  with  whoever  held  Baku,  and  that  any  endeavour 
to  control  the  Caspian  must  therefore  involve  the  holding 
of  that  town.  The  Russian  officers  who  had  come  out 
with  the  last  party  from  home  proved  invaluable  as 
interpreters,  and  filled  many  important  posts.  One  was 
attached  to  the  squadron  of  the  14th  Hussars,  several 
were  employed  on  dull  but  useful  duties  at  the  tollgates, 
some  assisted  in  supplies,  and  Captain  Bray,  a  Russian 
officer  of  English  descent,  was  appointed  A.D.C.  and 
proved  very  helpful  in  my  frequent  interviews  with 
messengers  from  Baku. 

There  were  many  Russian  lady  nurses  also,  who  had 
been  left  behind  by  the  retiring  troops,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  do  something  for  them.  Many  of  them  had  passed 
high  degrees  in  medical  science,  and  the  greater  number 
were  sent  down  to  Baghdad  for  duty  in  military  hospitals. 

Our  visiting  experiences  among  the  Persians  here  were 
more  amusing  than  those  at  Hamad  an,  but  we  never 
got  on  quite  such  friendly  terms.  Sovlaiev's  activities 
brought  many  people  to  me  in  despair.  The  first  to 
claim  my  protection  was  the  head  of  the  telephone 
service,  who  came  flying  round  the  day  after  our 
arrival  in  a  state  of  breathless  excitement  and  poured 
his  tale  of  woe  into  my  ears.  "  I  come  to  implore 
you  to  protect  an  innocent  man  from  the  Russians. 
They  have  declared  their  intention  of  arresting  me,  and 
that  desperate  man  Sovlaiev  is  at  this  very  moment 
scouring  the  town  for  me.    I  cannot  think  of    what   I 

11 


146    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

am  accused,  but  whatever  it  is  I  am  perfectly  innocent, 
as  you  must  be  aware.  Do  I  look  like  a  guilty 
person  ?  " 

I  must  own  that  he  did  look  extremely  guilty,  but  I 
could  only  reply,  "  I  am  quite  new  to  this  town  and  know 
nothing  of  any  of  the  inhabitants.  The  Russians  have 
been  here  for  years  and  must  know  all  about  everybody. 
I  cannot  therefore  undertake  to  pit  my  experience  against 
theirs,  and  I  cannot  possibly  interfere  with  any  arrests 
they  decide  to  make.  As  you  are  quite  certain  of  your 
innocence  I  should  not  resist  the  arrest.  You  had  better 
allow  Sovlaiev  to  take  what  steps  he  thinks  right  and 
rely  upon  the  proofs  of  your  innocence  to  put  matters 
square." 

The  Rais-i-telefon  smiled  a  sad  smile  at  this  advice 
and  intimated  that  he  was  not  inclined  to  take  the 
risk  of  relying  on  Sovlaiev's  discrimination.  As  I  could 
offer  him  neither  assistance  nor  palatable  advice,  he 
begged  permission  to  withdraw  and  was  soon  galloping 
off  in   his  little   two -horse   carriage. 

Five  minutes  later  up  turned  Sovlaiev  hot  on  the 
trail  of  his  enemy,  and  very  much  annoyed  with  me  for 
not  having  arrested  the  culprit.  I  explained  that  I  had 
no  information  as  to  any  charge  against  him,  and  I  could 
not  be  expected  to  fall  in  with  his  idea  of  arresting  people 
just  because  I  didn't  like  their  looks.  On  this  he  flew 
off  to  continue  the  chase,  the  intended  victim  continuing 
to  elude  him  up  to  nightfall.  At  daybreak  on  the  following 
morning  he  was  round  again  at  my  quarters  with  the  news 
that  the  Rais-i-telefon  had  taken  refuge  with  the  Governor, 
and  he  intended  to  attack  the  Governor's  palace  in  order 
to  effect  his  arrest.  I  dissuaded  him  from  this  quite 
unnecessary  act  of  violence,  and  we  agreed  that  I  should 
take  over  the  task  of  further  pursuit ;  I  did  not,  however, 
immediately  press  the  matter,  as  it  did  not  appear  to 
belong  to  the  category  of  events  that  were  going  to  win 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  147 

the  war.  I  merely  asked  Captain  (now  Major)  Saunders 
to  find  out  what  it  was  all  about,  and  awaited  his 
report. 

My  first  official  visit  was  necessarily  to  the  Governor, 
Midhat-es-Sultaneh,  a  charming  personality  of  Falstaffian 
build   and    humour — a  genial  philosopher  who  laughed 
his  way  through  life  and  met  each  change  of  fortune  with 
an  equanimity  worthy  of  the  Vicar  of  Bray.     His  motto 
was,  *'  Come  what  may  I  will  retain  my  position  as  Governor 
of  this  town,"  and  he  told  me  with  pride  that  he  was  the 
only  Governor  in  Persia  who  had  managed  to  cling  to 
office  for  more  than  three  years.     He  had  to  swing  the 
pendulum   this   way  to  please  the  Persian   Government, 
and  that  way  to  please  the  Russians,  and  now  we^  had 
come  he  was  quite  ready  to  swing  it  any  way  we  liked. 
As  long  as  we  were  pleased,  he  was  going  to  be  pleased. 
In  politics  he  posed  as  a  democrat,  but  he  told  me  this 
with  a  very  sly  chuckle.     He  was  certainly  not  the  type 
of  man  to  demand  "  government  b}^  the  people  for  the 
people,"  but,  as  he  said,   "  in  these  days  of  politics,  for 
which    we   have  to  thank  you  European  gentlemen,  one 
has   to    be   something    or   another,    and   the   democratic 
label  is  the  popular  one  at  present."     The  result  of  our 
investigations  as  to  his  past  leanings  and  tendencies  showed 
him  to  be  quite  innocent  of  any  plots  or  intrigues.     He 
was  pro-nothing  and  anti-nothing  and  had  only  one  aim 
in  life,  which  was  to  steer  his  boat  clear  of  all  the  rocks 
and  whirlpools  by  which  he  was  surrounded. 

After  calling  on  the  Governor,  we  visited  the  Kar- 
guzar,  Ihtidar-ul-Mulk,  a  pleasant  young  man,  who 
welcomed  us  with  every  courteous  attention.  In  conver- 
sation he  protested  a  little  too  much,  and  went  so  much 
out  of  his  way  to  denounce  the  Germans  and  Turks  and 
to  sneer  at  Kuchik  that  we  felt  convinced  he  would  prove 
to  be  one  of  our  worst  enemies.  It  was  not  long,  however, 
before  we  knew  all  about  his  hostile  activities,  and  he 


148    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

tacitly  admitted    his  guilt  by  fleeing  to  Teheran   before 
we  had  decided  to  take  action  against  him. 

Among  the  local  gentry  we  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Prince  Bisharat-es-Sultaneh,  a  relation  of  the  Sipah- 
Salar,  a  charming  specimen  of  the  refined  Persian 
gentleman. 

Several  batches  of  officers  had  now  arrived  from 
Hamadan,  and  we  were  able  to  begin  getting  the  town 
into  order.  Lieut. -Colonel  J.  Hoskyn  had  arrived  to  carry 
out  the  duties  of  General  Staff  Officer,  First  Grade  (for 
operations).  Lieut. -Colonel  Warden,  of  the  Canadian 
Infantry,  was  appointed  Commandant  of  the  town,  and 
Captain  Cockerell  took  over  the  arduous  duties  of  Assist- 
ant Provost-Marshal.  The  latter  officer  was  quite  the 
most  gifted  individual  I  have  ever  met  in  the  art  of 
producing  law  and  order  from  chaos.  Two  days  after  his 
arrival  I  found  him  going  round  the  town  with  the  genial 
Governor,  explaining  the  advantages  of  sanitation.  The 
Governor  was  finding  it  hard  to  live  up  to  his  principle  of 
agreeing  with  the  last-comer,  and  the  perpetual  smile  on 
his  genial  countenance  had  faded  to  a  hardly  perceptible 
flicker ;  but  he  still  had  sufficient  strength  to  murmur  a 
cheerful  assent  and  to  promise  great  efforts  in  the  near 
future.  For  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  was  going  to  find 
some  one  who  would  see  that  he  lived  up  to  his  promises, 
and  in  a  few  days  Kasvin  was  delighted  with  the  sight 
of  a  Persian  governor  actually  engaged  in  sanitating  his 
town,  an  event  not  previously  recorded  in  Persian  history. 

In  spite  of  our  efforts  at  sanitation,  Kasvin  was  not 
a  healthy  town,  and  our  chief  Medical  Officer,  Major 
Brunskill,  soon  had  his  small  hospital  overflowing.  But 
except  for  rare  isolated  cases  we  escaped  the  two  scourges 
common  to  this  part  of  Persia,  typhus  and  cholera. 

We  must  now  return  to  follow  the  doings  of  the  Rais- 
i-telefon.  We  left  him  hiding  in  the  Governor's  palace, 
with  Sovlaiev  watching  the  exits  to  pounce  on  him  if 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  149 

he  emerged.  But  he  took  very  good  care  not  to  show  his 
face  outside,  until  at  last  he  received  the  joyful  news  that 
his  persecutor  had  marched  down  the  road  to  Resht. 
If  he  had  only  known  it,  this  was  merely  a  case  of  "out 
of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire  "  ;  it  was  only  going  to 
result  in  a  change  of  methods,  but  the  result  would  be 
the  same. 

In  a  very  short  time  I  was  shown  papers  thoroughly 
implicating  the  suspected  man  in  every  sort  of  plot  and 
intrigue  to  "  down  the  British,"  and  the  majority  of 
these  papers  being  in  his  own  handwriting  there  was  not 
much  need  to  ask  for  corroboration  of  his  guilt.  After 
all,  one  uses  the  term  "  guilty  "  in  a  very  comparative 
sense.  The  term  is  not  really  applicable  to  an  inhabitant 
of  a  neutral  country  who  displays  a  preference  for  one 
nation  as  compared  with  another.  But  in  time  of  war 
one  has  to  regard  as  "  guilty  "  any  one  who  does  not 
side  with  oneself,  and  in  this  sense  the  documents  were 
most  incriminating. 

As  soon  as  I  saw  these  papers  I  determined  to  arrest  the 
Rais-i-telefon  ;  but  not  wishing  to  disgrace  the  Governor 
by  making  a  forcible  entry  into  his  palace,  I  sent  a  request 
to  him  that  he  would  come  round  and  see  me  at  Head 
Quarters  on  an  urgent  matter.  In  a  remarkably  short 
time  he  arrived  in  his  little  carriage  and  pair  and  entered 
my  room  with  his  usual  smile.  When  I  stated  the  reason 
of  my  desiring  his  presence  and  gave  him  the  letters  to 
read,  the  smile,  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  my  experi- 
ence, left  his  face,  and  he  literally  gasped  for  breath. 
I  do  not  think  it  was  the  contents  of  the  letters 
that  took  away  his  breath  so  much  as  the  fact  that 
we  had  obtained  possession  of  them.  At  last  his 
indignation  (well  assumed)  found  words.  **  Alas,  what 
treachery  !  Is  there  a  man  in  the  world  one  can  trust  ? 
To  think  of  a  former  friend  of  mine  sunk  to  such 
depths  of  infamy  !  "  etc. 


I 


150    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

When  he  had  concluded  his  long    tirade  I  informed 
him  that   I   should   be   under   the   painful   obligation   of 
invading  his  sacred  precincts  in  order  to  effect  the  arrest. 
This   brought   back   again   the   accustomed   smile   to   his 
lips  as  he  retorted  with  a  chuckle,  "  He  isn't  with  me  any 
more.     Since  Sovlaiev  left,  he  has  gone  back  to  his  own 
house."     He    now    begged,    in    the    polite    Persian    way, 
permission    to    withdraw.     But    there     was    a    delay    in 
getting  hold  of  Captain  Cockerell  to  give  him  the  orders 
for  arrest,  and  until  he  came  I  could  not  release  the  old 
man,  whose  anxiety  to  get  away  was  obviously  merely 
to  warn  the  friend  he  had  so  savagely  denounced.     So 
we  had  to  keep  the  conversation  going  on  rather  forced 
subjects,  and  at  every  pause  the  old  man  bobbed  up  with 
his  request  to  depart,  and  I  had  to  say  once  more,  *'  Please 
wait  half  a  minute,  I  see  so  little  of  your  Excellency, 
and  I  want  particularly  to  ask  you  if  there  is  any  prospect 
of  a  fall  in  the  price  of  grain."     At  last  Cockerell  arrived 
and  I  was  able  to  give  him  the  necessary  orders,  and  as 
he  would  be  travelling  in  a  motor-car,  I  thought  he  would 
easily  get  to  the  offender's  house  before  the  Governor 
could  carry  out  his  obvious  intention  of  warning  his  "  false  " 
friend.     I  accordingly  released  the  Governor,  and  it  was 
amusing   to   note  the  un-Persian  speed  with   which   he 
rushed  to  his  carriage,  hopped  in  and  instructed  the  coach- 
man  to   whip   up   the   horses.     Cockerell's   car   vanished 
down  a  road   to  the  left,  while   the   Governor's  carriage 
disappeared  in  a  cloud  of  dust  round  a  corner  to  the  right. 
And  the  Governor  won  the  race.     Owing  to  uncertainty 
as  to  the  exact  spot  at  the  Rais-i-telefon's  residence  the 
car  was  slightly  delayed,  and  by  the  time  they  reached 
the  house,  the  offender,  evidently  warned  on  the  telephone 
by  his  friend,  had  fled. 

The  failure  to  arrest  him  was  not  very  serious.  If 
he  had  fled  the  town  like  the  Kar-guzar,  it  would  suit 
me  equally  well,  and  if  he  remained  in  the  town  we  should 


i 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  151 

get  him  to-morrow  or  the  next  day.  I  never  attached 
the  same  importance  to  these  arrests  as  Sovlaiev  did. 
In  the  first  place,  until  our  arrival,  what  could  be  more 
natural  than  that  the  Persians  should  favour  our  enemies 
who  were  on  the  spot  and  prosecuting  a  most  vigorous 
propaganda  ?  The  fact  that  the  people  of  Kasvin  had 
favoured  the  enemy  cause  was  not  of  any  great  importance 
as  long  as  they  now  agreed  to  cease  their  activities  against 
us.  To  arrest  all  who  were  guilty  of  pro-Turk  or  pro- 
Kuchik  tendencies  would  have  been  to  arrest  every  man  of 
standing  in  the  town.  It  was  not  so  important  therefore 
to  arrest  one  or  two  individuals,  as  to  make  all  of  the 
offenders  change  their  minds.  I  accordingly  issued  a 
proclamation  to  the  effect  that  we  knew  the  exact  measure 
of  every  man's  guilt  up  to  date,  but  that  all  sins  of  the 
past  were  remitted  on  the  condition  that  no  offence  was 
committed  after  the  date  of  our  arrival.  Any  sign  of 
activity  against  us  from  this  date  would  be  treated  with 
the  greatest  severity. 

Another  advantage  in  leaving  a  man  at  liberty  when 
once  we  had  marked  him  down  as  an  enemy  agent  was 
that,  with  the  requisite  knowledge  in  our  possession,  we 
were  able  to  obtain  information  of  the  greatest  value  from 
his  correspondence.  We  kept  a  general  look-out  for  the 
Rais-i-telefon  without  pressing  the  matter  very  much, 
but  the  whole  situation  was  brought  to  a  dramatic  close 
by  his  unlooked-for  surrender. 

Major  Saunders  was  seated  in  his  office  on  the  day 
following  the  failure  to  carry  out  the  arrest,  when  the 
door  opened  and  in  walked  the  Rais-i-telefon.  Major 
Saunders  was  very  much  surprised  at  this  sudden  entry 
into  his  sanctuary  of  the  very  man  we  were  supposed  to 
be  hunting  the  town  for,  and  informed  him  abruptly  that 
he  must  now  consider  himself  a  prisoner.  The  Rais-i- 
telefon  meekly  acquiesced,  but  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
say  a  few  words,  which  were  to  this  effect :   "I  thoroughly 


152    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

admit  my  former  mistaken  activities  in  support  of  your 
enemies.  I  realize  that  I  was  entirely  wrong,  and  must 
plead  that  I  was  misled  by  others.  I  intend  from  this 
date  to  renounce  my  former  tendencies  and  to  devote 
the  rest  of  my  life  to  pro-British  propaganda." 

In  the  end  I  decided  not  to  arrest  him,  and  he  was  set 
at  liberty.  It  is  possible  to  doubt  the  genuineness  of  his 
conversion,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  during  the  remainder 
of  our  time  in  Kasvin  he  entirely  severed  his  enemy 
connection  and  was  helpful  to  us  in  many  ways. 

A  few  days  later  I  met  the  Governor  and  told  him  of 
our  surprise  at  the  Rais-i-telefon  surrendering  himself.  The 
old  man  chuckled  and  said  :  *'  That  was  all  my  advice. 
I  told  him  to  go  and  walk  into  the  office,  and  he  would 
find  that  you  would  not  touch  him.  I  warned  him  that 
if  you  caught  him  in  the  town  he  would  be  sent  to  Baghdad 
for  a  certainty,  but  that  you  would  consider  it  a  point  of 
honour  not  to  be  hard  on  him  if  he  gave  himself  up.  He 
was  afraid  to  risk  the  plan,  but  I  made  him  do  it.*' 

There  were  of  course  many  more  incidents  of  this 
kind,  but  the  above  will  suffice  as  typical  of  them  all. 
Arrests  of  real  importance  were  as  a  rule  not  amusing, 
and  were  carried  out  with  a  swiftness  and  secrecy  that 
enhanced  their  value. 

In  a  conversation  with  an  honest  democrat  {rara  avis) 
in  Kasvin  we  got  as  usual  on  to  the  favourite  topic  of 
every  one  at  this  time — Kuchik  Khan,  and  I  stated  that 
I  had  quite  a  genuine  admiration  for  him  and  a  general 
agreement  with  his  policy.  What  battle-cry  could  be 
more  suitable  for  a  Persian  than  "  Persia  for  the  Persians  !  " 
but  like  all  such  cries  it  calls  for  definition,  and  it  is  not 
easy  to  define  a  Persian.  In  Persia  there  are  large  com- 
munities of  Turks,  Turcomans,  Jews,  and  Armenians 
who  have  been  there  for  centuries  ;  are  these  Persians  ? 
Then  as  to  the  second  cry  of  "  Out  with  the  Europeans," 
what  desire  could  be  more  creditable  to  the  Persians  ? 


A  STEP  IN  ADVANCE  153 

But  of  course  it  would  entail  *'  Out  with  the  Persians  " 
in  other  lands  where  Persians  are  to  be  found.  And 
finally  it  is  not  enough  to  give  vent  to  these  aspira- 
tions ;  words  can  never  take  the  place  of  deeds,  and  as 
the  Europeans  will  not  go  voluntarily,  Persia  will  have 
to  apply  force.  And  that  is  just  the  weak  point  of 
the  whole  scheme,  there  is  no  force  behind  it  and  there 
never  will  be. 

Persia  has  no  army,  and  if  she  started  to-day  to  create 
one,  spending  money  (which  she  has  not  got)  lavishly, 
she  would  in  fifteen  years'  time  be  able  to  put  a  large 
number  of  well- trained  soldiers  on  parade.  But  putting 
them  on  parade  would  not  make  brave  men  of  them, 
and  I  very  much  doubt  if  they  would  be  of  any  value 
as  fighters.  To  be  good  fighters  men  must  have  strong 
beliefs  and  high  ideals.  The  strongest  of  all  incentives 
is  love  of  country,  and  I  see  no  signs  of  that  in  Persia. 

"  What  shall  we  do  then  ?  "  asked  my  friend. 
"  What  do  you  propose  as  a  future  programme  for 
Persia  ?  " 

"  Well,"  I  replied,  *'  after  my  very  short  acquaintance 
with  Persia,  my  opinion  is  of  little  value,  but  I  would 
suggest  the  following.  You  talk  of  the  glories  of  your 
past  history  ;  teach  it  to  your  children.  Talk  of  it  less 
and  live  up  to  it  more.  You  read  the  works  of  Sa'adi ; 
quote  him  less  and  be  guided  by  him  more.  As  long  as 
every  man  says  in  his  heart,  '  Let  Persia  sink  as  long  as 
I  swim,'  it  is  no  use  shouting  *  Persia  for  the  Persians.' 
If  you  could  start  to-day  to  educate  all  Persian  children 
from  six  years  of  age  upwards  on  these  lines,  they  would 
give  you  the  right  kind  of  soldiers  in  fifteen  years'  time, 
but  it  will  take  you  fifteen  years  to  get  an  educational 
system  going  ;  so  that  you  won't  get  your  first  soldiers 
till  thirty  years  from  now,  and  it  will  take  another  fifteen 
years  to  build  them  up  into  armies  ;  so  if  you  start  to-day 
on  this  simple  programme,  you  will  begin  trying  to  turn 


154    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

out  the  Europeans  in  1963.  And  even  then  you  must 
remember  that  you  will  be  only  '  trying  '  to  turn  them 
out,  which  is  a  very  different  thing  from  turning  them 
out." 

"  Your  scheme  is  rather  a  hopeless  one,"  said  he. 

'*  So  is  your  Kuchik  Khan's  programme,"  I  replied. 


CHAPTER    X 
THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA 

OUR  relations  at  this  time  with  Bicherakov  were 
becoming  rather  strained.  He  was  naturally  very- 
anxious,  and  his  men  even  more  so,  to  get  on  the  move. 

Kuchik  Khan  was  holding  the  Menjil  bridge,  70  miles 
from  Kasvin  and  exactly  half-way  to  Enzeli,  and  although 
we  could  not  believe  that  even  under  their  German  officers 
his  troops  would  put  up  a  very  serious  fight,  yet  it  was 
clear  that  he  did  intend  to  oppose  the  Anglo-Russian 
advance.  Every  day's  delay  enabled  him  to  increase  the 
strength  of  his  entrenched  position  covering  the  approaches 
to  the  bridge,  a  position  naturally  very  strong  even  without 
artificial  improvement. 

It  was  impossible  for  me  to  agree  to  a  forward  move 
on  Bicherakov*s  part  until  I  could  feel  sure  of  some  troops 
to  put  up  behind  him,  and  to  hold  Kasvin  and  the  various 
posts  on  the  road  to  Enzeli  as  the  Russian  column  marched 
down  to  the  Caspian  ;  and  those  troops  I  had  not  yet 
got.  The  only  bond  that  really  held  him  to  us  now  was 
the  financial  one  and  that  was  slender,  as  he  had  already 
been  offered  better  terms  in  the  Caucasus  if  he  would 
throw  in  his  lot  with  the  Bolsheviks.  I  also  impressed 
upon  him  the  great  advantage  it  would  be  to  him  to  have 
the  support  of  aeroplanes  and  armoured  cars,  and  these 
I  could  not  give  him  if  he  broke  away  from  us.     I  think 

155 


156    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

he  was  quite  justified  in  displaying  some  feeling  of 
exasperation. 

At  the  beginning  of  June  I  got  the  welcome  news  that 
troops  were  on  their  way  in  sufficient  numbers  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  moment.  The  remainder  of  the  14th 
Hussars  were  marching  to  Hamadan,  eight  armoured  cars 
were  at  Kermanshah,  and  a  mobile  column  of  a  thousand 
rifles  of  the  1/4  Hants  Regiment  and  the  1/2  Gurkhas 
with  two  mountain  guns  were  on  their  way  up  with  all 
speed  in  500  Ford  motor- vans,  and  would  probably  arrive 
in  Kasvin  by  June  12th.  The  movement  of  so  many  cars 
was  rendered  difficult  by  the  shortage  of  petrol,  but  we 
just  managed  to  accumulate  sufficient  to  get  them  all 
through.  But  by  the  time  this  column  reached  Kasvin, 
it  no  longer  merited  the  designation  of  "  mobile  "  :  the 
rough  journey  had  been  very  hard  on  the  cars,  there  was 
a  shortage  of  spare  parts,  and  less  than  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  cars  were  fit  for  immediate  use. 

In  addition  to  these  troops,  No.  8  Battery  Royal  Field 
Artillery  was  on  its  way  from  Baghdad  to  Kasvin. 

We  now  had  before  us  the  final  choice  of  coming  to 
terms  with  Kuchik  Khan  or  fighting  him,  though  it  would 
be  more  correct  to  say  that  we  gave  him  the  choice. 
There  were  several  interchanges  of  our  respective  points 
of  view  by  means  of  messengers,  but  it  seemed  impossible 
to  hope  for  any  peaceful  solution.  It  was  too  much  to 
expect  of  Kuchik  Khan  that  having  paraded  his  brave 
army,  and  vaunted  its  pro^v^ess  in  the  most  bellicose 
language,  he  would  now  tamely  submit  to  see  our  troops 
march  unopposed  through  his  entrenchments.  Nothing 
came  of  these  negotiations  therefore,  and  as  a  last  resource 
I  sent  down  Colonel  Stokes  with  a  flag  of  truce  with  full 
powers  to  speak  for  me.  I  was  anxious  as  to  what  might 
befall  Captain  Noel  and  the  other  prisoners  in  the  hands 
of  the  Jangalis  if  we  declared  war  on  the  latter.  The 
number    of    prisoners    had    considerably   increased,    but 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  157 

Noel  was  now  the  only  Englishman  among  them.  Oakshot 
and  Maclaren  had  escaped  ;  Noel  was  confined  in  chains 
in  a  dungeon.  The  other  prisoners  included  one  French 
ofl&cer  and  several  Russians. 

I  authorized  Colonel  Stokes  to  make  any  reasonable 
agreement  with  Kuchik,  our  unconditional  points  being 
the  immediate  release  of  all  prisoners,  the  opening  of  the 
road  to  Enzeli  and  a  guarantee  of  non-interference  with 
movements  of  our  troops  on  the  road.  In  exchange 
I  offered  him  a  free  hand  as  regarded  any  steps  he  might 
take  with  regard  to  the  internal  politics  of  Persia. 

Colonel  Stokes  remained  for  two  days  at  Kuchik  Khan's 
Head  Quarters  near  Resht,  but  was  only  able  to  get  evasive 
replies.  Finding  himself  unable  to  induce  the  Jangalis 
to  see  the  folly  of  their  ways,  and  knowing  that  according 
to  our  programme  hostilities  would  now  be  commencing 
he  closed  the  negotiations  and  left  for  Enzeli  on  the  same 
day  that  the  fighting  at  Menjil  began. 

On  June  5th  I  agreed  to  Bicherakov  setting  his  troops 
in  motion,  with  a  view  to  attacldng  the  Jangalis  at  Menjil 
and  securing  the  bridge.  Accordingly  on  that  date  the 
combined  army  set  out  from  Kasvin  composed  of  some 
thousand  Cossacks,  including  artillery,  cavalry  and  in- 
fantry, one  squadron  of  the  14th  Hussars  under  Captain 
Pope,  and  two  of  our  armoured  cars.  It  was  also  arranged 
that  when  hostilities  commenced,  two  aeroplanes  from  the 
aerodrome  at  Kasvin  should  co-operate.  To  Bicherakov's 
force  I  attached  Major  Newcome,  of  the  Canadian  army, 
as  financial  adviser  and  Captain  Derbyshire  to  supervise 
supplies.  Colonel  Clutterbuck  remained  throughout  as 
liaison  officer  with  the  Russians,  and  Major  Rowlandson, 
who  also  spoke  Russian,  accompanied  the  force  for 
general  duties. 

By  June  II,  1918,  all  was  ready  for  the  attack  on 
the  Jangali  position.  On  the  night  of  that  date  Bicherakov 
had   collected   his    force    at    Bala    Bala,    8    miles   from 


158    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Menjil,  and  at  dawn  on  the    12th  he  moved  ofiE  to   the 
encounter. 

The  two  aeroplanes  sent  down  from  Kasvin  to  co- 
operate in  the  attack  had  orders  to  fly  over  the  enemy's 
trenches,  but  not  to  use  their  machine-guns  or  to  bomb 
the  trenches  until  the  enemy  had  made  his  intention  of 
fighting  clear  by  opening  fire.  I  gave  this  order  because 
I  knew  that  the  whole  attitude  of  the  Jangalis  might 
well  be  only  another  example  of  the  time-honoured 
Persian  custom  of  fighting  a  battle  by  "  looks,"  and 
if  that  were  to  be  their  line  of  action,  it  would  only  be 
fair  to  let  them  see  our  "  looks  "  before  proceeding  to 
deeds. 

The  matter  was  settled  at  once  by  the  Jangali  troops 
opening  a  furious  but  harmless  fusillade  on  the  aeroplanes 
as  they  flew  over  the  trenches  ;  and  thus  commenced 
the  Battle  of  Menjil  Bridge. 

Meantime  Bicherakov  was  steadily  advancing  at  the 
head  of  his  troops.  This  is  not  the  proper  place,  according 
to  correct  ideas  of  modern  warfare,  for  a  General  Officer 
commanding  a  force  about  to  come  into  action  ;  in  fact 
it  is  the  very  last  place  where  he  ought  to  be  ;  but  in  Persia 
the  ordinary  rules  of  tactics  are  reversed,  and  action  that 
would  be  fatal  in  European  warfare  brings  about  most 
successful  results. 

It  is  not  easy  to  calculate  what  strength  Kuchik  Khan 
brought  into  action  on  this  day.  He  boasted  of  possessing 
5,000  men,  and  he  may  have  had  half  that  number  in 
the  trenches  on  both  sides  of  the  bridge,  and  on  the 
surrounding  hills.  He  had  no  artillery,  but  was  well  sup- 
plied with  machine-guns,  which  were  placed  in  excellent 
positions  to  command  the  approaches  to  the  bridge 
and  the  road  on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

The  road  has  already  been  described  in  Chapter  III, 
but  it  will  make  things  clearer  if  X  give  a  more  detailed 
description  of  the  few  miles  of  ground  over  which  the  action 


I 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  159 

took  place.  Approaching  Menjil  from  the  east  the  road 
runs  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  which  lie  on  the 
right-hand  side  while  a  broad  stony  river-bed  runs 
parallel  to  the  road  on  the  left.  At  a  point  about  2| 
miles  before  the  bridge  is  reached  a  low  spur  runs  out 
from  the  hills,  causing  the  road  to  take  a  hairpin  bend, 
on  rounding  which  the  plain  and  village  of  Menjil  come 
into  view.  The  bridge  is  not  visible  from  here,  in  fact  it 
can  only  be  seen  from  a  very  short  distance,  as  it  lies  in 
a  very  narrow  gap  between  steep  cliffs.  At  the  point  of 
the  hairpin  bend  referred  to  above  is  a  small  tea-shop, 
whence  an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  whole  ground  is 
obtained. 

It  is  obvious  from  the  above  description  that  the 
enemy  should  have  held  this  spur  to  cover  the  approaches 
to  the  field,  and  to  deny  so  favourable  a  position  to  us. 
But  it  was  held  only  by  an  observation  picquet,  which 
withdrew  without  firing  on  Bicherakov's  approach.  Stand- 
ing at  the  tea-shop  and  looking  west  one  sees  in  the  near 
foreground  to  the  left,  and  left  front,  the  village  and  the 
cultivated  fields  of  Menjil,  abruptly  terminated  at  a  distance 
of  about  2  miles  by  the  river-bed,  which  here  swings 
round  to  the  right  to  find  its  way  north  to  the  Caspian 
Sea  through  the  gap  over  which  the  Menjil  bridge  has  been 
constructed.  The  country  in  the  distance  in  this  same 
line  of  view  is  fairly  open  for  some  6  miles,  consisting  of 
broad  river-beds,  patches  of  riverside  cultivation  and 
low  hills ;  beyond  that  the  hills  rise  to  considerable 
altitudes,  and  close  the  panorama.  The  road  to  the 
bridge  is  naturally  obliged  to  follow  the  lines  of  the  spur, 
curving  beyond  it  sharply  to  the  right  for  half  a  mile  till 
the  open  ground  is  reached  and  then  leading  due  west  to 
the  bridge.  In  the  immediate  foreground  at  a  distance 
of  2  miles  is  a  small  isolated  flat-topped  hill  about 
800  yards  in  length  running  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of 
the  road  and  completely  covering  the  bridge  which  lies 


160    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

about  half  a  mile  north-west  of  it.  On  the  right  the  rocky 
cliffs  of  the  Elburz  Mountains  rise  within  a  few  yards  of 
the  road,  and  render  manoeuvre  in  that  direction  difficult 
except  for  well-trained  mountain  troops. 

The  German  Commander,  von  Passchen,  failed  to  hold 
this  spur,  which  was  of  course  the  real  key  of  the  position, 
and  contented  himself  with  entrenching  his  troops  on 
the  crest-line  of  the  isolated  hill,  keeping  a  few  small 
detachments  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  mountains  to  our 
right.  Without  artillery  the  hill  might  have  been  difficult 
to  take,  but  such  a  position  would  be  obviously  untenable 
in  the  face  of  artillery  fire,  forming  a  target  which  an 
artilleryman  would  go  far  to  seek  and  would  seldom 
find.  The  crest-line  of  this  small  hill  is  at  a  slightly 
lower  level  than  that  of  the  tea-shop  spur. 

The  whole  dispositions  of  the  defence  were  so  farcical 
that  I  am  bound  to  believe  that  the  Persians  never  meant 
to  fight,  relying  upon  "  looks  "  to  carry  the  day.  But  for 
that  class  of  warfare  they  found  Bicherakov  quite  the 
wrong  sort  of  man. 

Presumably  von  Passchen  must  have  known  better, 
but  I  think  the  Persians  believed  that  we  would  argue 
thus :  "  The  Jangalis  hold  a  hill  that  lies  right  across 
our  path,  protects  the  bridge  and  brings  all  the  road  over 
which  we  must  advance  under  fire.  To  turn  them  out 
will  cost  many  lives,  even  if  successful.  They  will  not 
go  of  their  own  accord.  We  must  therefore  halt  here 
for  several  days  to  discuss  the  situation." 

Having  omitted  to  hold  the  spur,  the  next  most 
favourable  ground  for  the  enemy  was  the  rocky  slopes 
of  the  mountains  on  our  right  and  the  similar  slopes  on 
the  far  side  of  the  bridge.  Troops  holding  positions  on 
these  slopes  would  be  difficult  to  dislodge,  and  their 
machine-gun  fire  properly  directed  would  have  made  an 
attack  on  the  bridge,  without  first  dislodging  them,  a 
very  costly  affair  and  quite  possibly  a  failure. 


I 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  16i 

There  were  a  few  troops  in  these  positions,  but  their 
opposition  was  very  feeble.  They  made  little  use  of 
their  machine-guns,  and  very  soon  withdrew  entirely 
from  the  field  of  battle. 

The  ball  was  opened  by  the  arrival  of  the  aeroplanes, 
which  swooped  gracefully  over  the  Jangali  entrenchments 
without  opening  fire,  returning  to  report  the  details  of 
the  enemy's  position.  They  were  heavily  fired  at,  but 
were  undamaged. 

At  the  same  moment  Bicherakov  at  the  head  of  his 
army  came  round  the  corner  of  the  spur  by  the  tea-shop, 
where  he  encountered  a  small  body  of  the  enemy's  troops, 
who  had  the  appearance  of  intending  to  resist  his 
advance.  Having  been  badly  wounded  in  the  legs  early 
in  the  war  Bicherakov  is  obliged  to  walk  with  a  stick, 
which  he  now  carried  as  his  only  weapon,  and  with 
which  he  walked  boldly  up  to  the  leader  and  asked  him 
what  he  was  doing  there  and  why  his  men  assumed  so 
threatening  an  attitude.  To  this  the  picquet  commander 
replied,  "  We  are  here  to  hold  this  post  with  the  last 
drop  of  our  blood  !  " 

"  Get  out  of  it,  at  once  !  "  shouted  Bicherakov,  waving 
his  crooked  stick  at  them,  and  his  fierce  and  threatening 
gestures  so  alarmed  the  Jangalis  that  they  turned  and 
fled  as  one  man  down  the  road,  leaving  the  spur  in  the 
hands  of  the  Cossacks.  This  completed  the  second  phase 
of  the  battle. 

The  third  phase  was  commenced  by  the  arrival  of  the 
German  officer,  von  Passchen,  with  a  Persian  escort  carry- 
ing a  flag  of  truce  and  demanding  a  parley.  The  German 
was  dressed  in  his  national  uniform  and  had  quite  the  air 
of  a  commander-in-chief,  evidently  much  impressing  his 
Persian  associates,  but  only  making  the  Cossacks  smile. 
Bicherakov  advanced  to  meet  him  and  inquired  what  his 
errand  might  be.  Von  Passchen  replied  that  he  came 
to  treat  on  behalf  of  Kuchik  Khan  and  proceeded  to 
express  himself  in  these  terms  : 

12 


162    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  The  Jangalis  are,  as  you  see,  very  strongly  entrenched, 
and  the  troops  at  your  disposal  will  not  suffice  to  move 
them  from  their  position.  Any  attack  you  may  therefore 
see  fit  to  undertake  is  foredoomed  to  failure  and  will 
only  result  in  needless  loss  of  life.  Mirza  Kuchik  Khan 
therefore  empowers  me  to  make  the  following  offer  to 
you.  If  you  will  dissociate  yourself  from  the  English, 
he  will  gladly  allow  you  a  free  road  to  Enzeli.  He  has 
always  regarded  the  Russians  as  friends  and  still  continues 
to  do  so  ;  his  quarrel  is  only  with  the  English.  Your  men 
may  pass  down  the  road,  without  disarming,  in  batches 
of  two  hundred  daily  and  the  Jangalis  will  not  molest 
your  parties,  but  no  English  will  be  allowed  to  pass." 

Bicherakov  was  quite  overcome  with  the  impertinence 
of  this  proposition,  but  retained  some  control  over  his 
temper  and  his  tongue.  His  reply  was  something  to  the 
following  effect: 

"  I  do  not  recognize  a  German  officer  as  a  representative 
of  Kuchik  Khan,  and  I  consider  your  appearing  before 
me  in  German  uniform  as  a  piece  of  insolence.  I  want 
no  terms  from  the  Jangalis,  and  intend  to  open  fire  as 
soon  as  you  get  out  of  the  way." 

The  Cossack  mountain  artillerj^  had  meanwhile  been 
taking  up  an  excellent  position  on  the  tea-shop  spur,  and 
as  soon  as  von  Passchen  was  clear  of  the  field  of  fire 
the  order  was  given  to  open  on  the  isolated  hill  entrench- 
ments. The  Cossack  cavalry  and  the  Hussars  then  moved 
out  into  the  open  towards  the  enemy's  right,  and  the 
armoured  cars  came  into  action  on  the  road  against  the 
enemy's  left,  while  the  Cossack  infantry  extended  over 
the  plain. 

In  a  very  short  time  the  Jangalis  were  seen  to  be 
evacuating  their  trenches  and  making  in  confusion  for 
the  bridge,  the  cavalry  and  armoured  cars  followed  up 
in  pursuit  and  gained  the  bridge  without  a  check,  cutting 
off  a  large  number  of  stragglers  who  were  taken  prisoners. 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA.  163 

The  bridge  should  have  been  untenable  at  this  early  stage 
of  the  proceedings,  as  the  machine-guns  which  were  sited 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river  to  cover  it  and  all  the 
approaches  were  still  in  position  and  had  not  even  come 
under  our  fire.  But  the  spirit  of  panic  was  in  the  air, 
and  the  machine-gunners  fled  almost  without  firing  a 
shot.  The  mounted  troops  crossed  the  bridge,  the  infantry 
were  reformed  and  the  whole  force  marched  10  miles 
down  the  road  to  Rudbar  without  any  further  molestation. 
This  seems  incredible  when  you  consider  the  nature  of 
this  terrible  defile  which  I  have  already  described.  Had 
only  one  machine-gun  remained  in  action  on  this  road 
the  whole  advance  would  have  been  stopped.  The 
Jangalis  left  a  large  number  of  killed  and  wounded  on 
the  ground,  making  no  effort  to  remove  them,  and  so 
ended  the  Battle  of  Menjil  Bridge.  The  casualties  on 
our  side  were  trivial. 

Very  determined  opposition  had  not  been  expected, 
but  no  one  had  contemplated  quite  such  an  easy  victory. 
The  Jangalis  are  not  altogether  cowards,  as  they  proved 
later,  and  Kuchik  Khan  explained  their  flight  on  this 
occasion  as  being  due  to  the  fact  that  he  had  no  intention 
of  fighting  and  was  quite  taken  by  surprise.  He  had 
expected  the  Russians  to  be  overawed  by  the  mere  sight 
of  his  troops,  and  had  felt  certain  that  they  would  agree 
to  his  terms.  He  was  painfully  surprised  at  the  rough 
treatment  they  had  received  at  the  hands  of  Bicherakov's 
force. 

The  squadron  of  the  14th  Hussars  remained  at  Menjil 
under  Captain  Pope  to  hold  the  bridge,  and  were  shortly 
afterwards  strengthened  by  the  addition  of  an  infantry 
detachment  from  the  mobile  column. 

As  our  troops  were  not  yet  quite  ready  to  take  up  the 
various  posts  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  hold  to  keep 
open  the  road  to  Enzeli,  I  had  still  to  use  all  the  tact  and 
gifts  of  persuasion  I  possessed  to  restrain  the  impatience 


164    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

of  Bicherakov.  In  the  end  he  decided  to  push  on  to 
Enzeli  with  his  main  body,  leaving  small  detachments  at 
Rudbar,  Rustamabad  and  Resht  to  be  relieved  by  our 
troops  as  soon  as  possible  and  to  rejoin  him  at  Enzeli.  We 
were  able  to  carry  out  these  reliefs  within  the  next  week 
and  to  separate  ourselves  finally  from  Bicherakov's  force. 

Kuchik  Khan  now  inspired  his  followers  by  announcing 
that  the  Russians  having  withdrawn,  the  British  were 
left  by  themselves  and,  as  they  notably  were  poor  fighters, 
they  would  soon  fall  an  easy  prey  to  his  gallant  troops, 
whom  he  ordered  to  attack  and  harass  the  British  de- 
tachments on  the  road  and  to  exterminate  them.  The 
result  of  these  efforts  was  very  similar  to  the  result  of  a 
similar  order  given  at  the  commencement  of  the  war  by 
the  Kaiser  with  reference  to  a  certain  "  contemptible 
little  army." 

On  June  18th  a  detachment  of  the  l/4  Hants  was 
attacked  on  the  road.  Captain  Durnford  was  killed  and 
six  men  wounded,  but  the  enemy  were  driven  off  with 
considerable  loss.  At  the  same  time  the  enemy  displayed 
considerable  activity  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  other 
posts,  especially  near  Imamzadeh  Hashim,  10  miles  from 
Resht,  where  the  road  leaves  the  hills  and  enters  the 
dense  forest  and  rice-fields  of  the  flat  country,  and  also 
at  Resht  itself.  The  town  of  Resht  is  large  and  straggling 
and  entirely  surrounded  by  alternate  tracts  of  impene- 
trable forest  and  rice-fields.  It  is  of  considerable 
commercial  importance,  and  has  an  even  more  ugly 
Europeanized  appearance  than  Kasvin,  with  theatres, 
cinemas  and  many  hotels.  In  the  centre  of  the  town 
are  public  gardens  with  a  bandstand,  and  close  to  these 
gardens  is  the  humble  dwelling  that  is  occupied  by 
the  British  Consul.  This  is  obviously  a  very  bad  site 
for  such  a  residence.  The  Russians,  more  wisely,  have 
built  a  splendid  Consulate  standing  in  its  own  grounds, 
just  on  the  southern  outskirt  of  the  town  and  on  the 


Resht,  close  to  the  Consulate 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  165 

main  road.  Our  troops  were  billeted  alongside  of  the 
Russian  Consulate  outside  the  town,  in  a  position  that 
gave  them  considerable  tactical  advantages. 

The  greatest  number  of  troops  we  ever  had  at  Resht 
was  450  rifles  and  two  armoured  cars,  and  with  this 
number  it  was  quite  impossible  to  defend  the  town  against 
the  Jangalis,  who  were  concentrating  in  the  surrounding 
forest  and  were  never  more  than  a  mile  away  from  the 
outskirts  of  the  town.  Only  one  road  led  through  the 
forest  and  that  was  the  direct  road  to  Kasma,  25  miles 
to  the  west,  where  Kuchik  Khan  had  his  Head  Quarters. 
Our  force  was  too  small  to  risk  an  offensive  against  the 
Jangalis,  of  whom  there  were  over  2,000  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  and  even  had  we  possessed  sufficient 
strength  it  would  have  been  putting  men  into  a  death- 
trap to  move  them  along  the  Kasma  road,  while  off  the 
road  movement  in  any  formation  was  almost  impossible. 
There  was  nothing  therefore  to  prevent  the  Jangalis 
from  taking  the  actual  town,  the  perimeter  of  which  would 
be  about  7  miles,  a  distance  far  beyond  the  capacity 
of  450  rifles  to  defend.  The  town  lies  open  on  every 
side  and  the  dense  undergrowth  comes  right  up  to  the 
walls  of  the  outer  houses.  The  troops  were  therefore 
kept  concentrated  on  the  outskirts,  where  they  could 
hold  their  own  against  a  large  force  of  the  enemy  and 
whence  they  could  deliver  a  counter-attack  at  any 
favourable  moment. 

The  situation  of  this  detachment  would  have  been 
precarious  but  for  the  aeroplanes,  which  produced  a  great 
effect  by  bombing  and  machine-gunning  any  concentration 
of  the  enemy  ;  but  this  task  was  also  rendered  difficult 
by  the  density  of  the  forest,  which  gave  the  enemy  cover 
from  view.  The  casualties  inflicted  were  therefore  slight, 
but  the  moral  effect  was  great. 

These  operations  on  the  Menjil-Resht  road  were 
conducted  by  Lieut. -Colonel  Matthews,  of  the  l/4  Hants, 


166    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

who  commanded  the  mobile  column  of  800  rifles  and  two 
mountain  artillery  guns,  which  was  a  small  force  to  cover 
the  50  miles  of  mountain  road  and  forest  from  Menjil 
to  Resht !  There  was  a  good  deal  of  hard  fighting  and 
the  men  acquitted  themselves  well,  both  Gurkhas  and 
Hampshire  men  vieing  with  one  another  in  showing  the 
Jangalis  of  what  stuff  our  troops  were  made.  The 
armoured  cars  also  helped  much  to  impress  the  enemy, 
although  the  country  was  of  the  very  worst  description 
for  their  action,  it  being  quite  impossible  for  them  to 
manoeuvre  off  the  roads.  The  one  thing  an  armoured 
car  cannot  negotiate  is  a  rice-field. 

On  June  26th  I  left  for  Enzeli  with  a  view  of  fixing 
up  plans  with  Bicherakov  before  he  embarked  for  Baku, 
and  also  of  ascertaining  the  present  attitude  of  the  Bol- 
shevik Committee.  We  stayed  the  night  at  Resht  in 
the  British  Consulate,  and  I  noticed  the  extreme  danger 
of  its  position  in  the  heart  of  the  town.  It  was  defended 
by  a  guard  of  one  N.C.O.  and  twelve  men,  but  a  determined 
attack  could  not  be  beaten  off  by  so  small  a  detachment, 
and  Colonel  Matthews  could  not  spare  more  men  from 
his  small  force.  Mr.  Maclaren,  who  had  been  a  long  time 
a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  Jangalis,  was  now  re-occupy- 
ing the  Consulate,  but  it  was  intended  to  replace  him  by 
Mr.  Moir,  and  arrangements  were  made  to  install  the  new 
Consul  with  due  ceremony  on  our  return  journey. 

We  reached  Enzeli  early  on  June  27th  and  took  up  our 
quarters  as  before  in  the  Fishery  Depot.  The  whole  of 
the  27th  and  part  of  the  28th  were  spent  in  discussing 
plans  with  Bicherakov  and  interviewing  Comrade 
Cheliapin. 

Bicherakov  had  decided  to  turn  Bolshevik,  as  he  saw 
no  other  way  of  getting  a  footing  in  the  Caucasus.  He 
had  written  and  wired  to  the  Bolshevik  Committee  an- 
nouncing his  conversion  and  stating  his  belief  that  only 
by  means  of  the  Sovietski  Vlast  (the  power  of  councils — 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  167 

a  new  name  for  the  Bolshevik  authorities)  could  Russia 
find  redemption.  His  conversion  was  loudly  acclaimed 
in  the  Bolshevik  newspapers  of  Baku,  and  he  was  offered 
the  command  of  the  Bolshevik  troops  or  the  so-called 
"  Red  Army,"  which  he  accepted.  He  was  ready  to 
embark  at  once,  and  I  decided  to  send  with  him  the  staff 
of  British  officers  who  had  accompanied  him  from  Kasvin 
and  "  A  "  Squadron  No.  2  Battery  Armoured  Cars  (Locker- 
Lampson's  unit).  Disembarking  at  Baku  would  put  his 
force  rather  too  much  in  the  hands  of  the  Bolsheviks, 
who  might  turn  round  on  him  at  any  moment ;  he  there- 
fore decided  to  land  at  Alyat,  a  small  port  50  miles  south 
of  Baku,  where  the  railway  turns  at  a  right  angle  due 
west  towards  Tiflis.  This  would  keep  his  force  separate 
from  the  Bolsheviks  and  would  at  the  same  time  bring 
it  into  the  best  position  for  co-operating  with  that  portion 
of  the  Red  Army  which  was  actually  in  the  field. 

The  strength  of  the  Red  Field  Army  was  calculated 
at  about  10,000  men,  and  if  they  really  had  been  soldiers 
and  had  had  any  fight  in  them  the  plan  evolved  by  Bicher- 
akov  should  have  been  successful.  But  as  usual,  revolu- 
tionary troops  are  only  troops  on  paper,  and  in  the  field, 
where  each  man  is  out  only  to  avoid  being  killed,  they 
count  for  nothing. 

The  situation  in  the  South- East  Caucasus  at  this  time 
was  as  follows  :  The  Turkish  Caucasus-Islam  Army,  about 
12,000  strong,  composed  of  about  one-half  regular  Turkish 
troops  and  one-half  levies  from  the  local  Mahomedan 
races  in  the  South  Caucasus,  was  advancing  from  the 
Tiflis  direction  along  the  railway  line  with  a  view  of  cap- 
turing Baku.  They  were  much  hampered  by  the  bad 
state  of  the  railway  and  rolling-stock  and  shortage  of 
fuel  for  the  engines.  The  Germans  in  Tiflis  also  were 
doing  their  best  to  prevent  the  Turks  getting  to  Baku 
at  all,  as  they  had  a  private  arrangement  with  Lenin, 
and  through  him  with  the  Baku  Government,  that  the 


168    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

town  should  be  peacefully  handed  over  to  them.  To  see 
the  Turks  in  Baku  would  be  almost  as  bad  as  to  see  the 
British  there. 

This  peculiar  situation  resulted  in  a  most  extraordinary 
^tate  of  affairs.  In  their  anxiety  to  prevent  the  Germans 
obtaining  possession  of  Baku,  and  also  in  their  eagerness 
to  take  any  chance  of  fighting  the  Bolsheviks,  many 
Russian  officers  joined  this  Turkish  force,  and  when  we 
were  later  fighting  against  them  in  Baku  we  had  Russian 
officers  on  our  side,  while  the  enemy  had  as  many 
on  his. 

On  July  1st  the  Turkish  Army  had  not  yet  crossed 
the  Kura  River,  over  which  there  is  only  one  bridge,  at 
Yeldakh,  150  miles  from  Alyat.  This  river  drains  the 
south-eastern  half  of  the  Caucasus  Mountains  from  a 
point  just  north  of  Tiflis,  and  joins  the  Aras  River  100 
miles  from  the  point  where  the  latter  flows  into  the 
Caspian  Sea,  50  miles  south  of  Alyat. 

The  possession  of  this  bridge  was  therefore  all  im- 
portant. The  advance  guard  of  the  Red  Army  was 
approaching  the  bridge  from  the  east,  and  Bicherakov 
hoped  to  make  a  dash  and  capture  it  before  the  Turks, 
advancing  from  the  west,  could  succeed  in  doing  so. 
If  he  could  seize  and  hold  the  bridge  there  would  be  no 
possibility  of  any  further  advance  of  the  Turks  on  Baku 
for  a  very  long  time.  Even  should  he  fail  to  secure  the 
bridge,  his  troops  might  still  defeat  the  enemy  in  the 
fighting  that  wotdd  ensue,  or  at  any  rate  delay  their 
advance  long  enough  to  enable  the  Baku  commander  to 
choose  a  defensive  line  in  the  mountainous  country  west 
of  Baku  that  should  be  impregnable. 

With  these  objects  in  view  Bicherakov  commenced 
the  embarkation  of  his  force,  on  July  1st. 

My  other  task  at  Enzeli  was  to  interview  Cheliapin 
and  ascertain  his  frame  of  mind.  A  short  precis  of  our 
conversation  will  be  given  later  on. 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  169 

The  first  thing  that  struck  me  at  Enzeli  was  the  entire 
change  of  atmosphere  since  our  unfortunate  visit  here  in 
the  winter.  Then  the  Committee  with  some  2,000  men 
behind  them  were  able  to  dictate ;  now  with  only 
200  Red  Guards,  faced  by  100  men  of  the  1/4  Hants, 
the  air  of  dictator  had  vanished.  The  numerous  com- 
mittee had  dwindled  to  three,  of  whom  we  already 
knew  Cheliapin ;  the  second  member  was  Lazarev,  a  young 
shopkeeper  about  thirty  years  of  age,  and  the  third  was 
Babookh,  a  youth  of  nineteen  years  of  age,  who  had  served 
as  a  trumpeter  in  a  cavalry  regiment.  The  ignorance  of 
this  latter  member  was  astounding  ;  he  was  probably 
only  just  qualified  as  **  literate,"  but  he  had  the  courage 
of  ignorance  and  the  conceit  of  youth,  and  he  undertook 
to  speak  severely  to  me  on  several  subjects  of  which 
he  knew  nothing,  such  as  our  Colonial  policy  and  our  rule 
in  India.  He  was  a  nice  enthusiastic  lad  and  really  did 
intend  to  set  all  the  wrongs  in  the  world  right,  but  the 
lines  on  which  he  hoped  to  work  were  not  such  as  were 
likely  to  lead  to  success. 

Connected  with  the  Committee  was  Lieutenant  Alkhavi, 
an  officer  of  Arab  descent  in  Bicherakov's  service.  He 
was  military  governor  of  the  town  and  representative  of 
the  Baku  Soviets.  As  a  member  of  Bicherakov's  force 
he  was  naturally  inclined  to  help  us,  but  he  liked  his 
position  as  King  of  Kazian,  and  seemed  a  little  afraid 
that  in  the  end  we  might  supplant  him. 

Our  detachment  at  Enzeli  was  very  much  objected  to 
both  by  him  and  Cheliapin,  but  I  pointed  out  that  we  were 
preparing  a  landing-ground  for  aeroplanes  here  and  I 
must  have  a  guard  to  look  after  the  planes.  They  very 
kindly  offered  to  undertake  the  guarding  of  the  planes 
for  us,  but  I  had  to  insist  that  this  was  a  duty  that 
could  only  be  performed  by  our  own  men. 

Another  change  in  the  atmosphere  was  that  instead  of 
summoning  me  to  attend  a  meeting  in  the  revolutionary 


170    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Head  Quarters,  the  Committee  very  kindly  oame  to  see 
me,  at  my  request,  in  my  quarters. 

The  most  important  matter  to  settle  with  Cheliapin 
was  the  supply  of  petrol.  This  was  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  our  enemies  the  Bolsheviks,  and  it  was  not  easy  to  get 
them  to  part  with  the  one  indispensable  product,  the 
lack  of  which  would  paralyse  all  our  movements.  Of 
course  they  should  have  absolutely  refused  to  part  with 
a  single  drop  of  petrol,  in  which  case  my  force  in  Persia 
would  have  entirely  lost  its  mobility,  and  we  would  have 
found  ourselves  in  an  extremely  serious  situation. 

But  revolutionaries  are  short-sighted  and  not  inclined 
to  look  very  far  ahead  in  their  transactions.  They  wanted 
motor-cars,  with  which  I  alone  could  supply  them.  Money 
they  had  no  need  of  as  long  as  there  was  a  printing-press 
handy,  but  motor-cars  were  not  so  easily  called  into 
existence  as  currency  notes.  So  we  arranged  an  exchange 
of  motor-cars  for  petrol,  at  the  rate  of  £300  worth  of 
petrol  for  every  £100  worth  of  cars.  They  wanted  cars 
badly,  but  cars  were  far  from  being  indispensable  to  them, 
whereas  petrol  was  absolutely  indispensable  to  me.  Had 
they  had  the  sense  to  see  that  they  were  gaining  a  very 
slight  advantage  and  giving  away  a  very  valuable  one, 
they  might  have  refused  the  deal,  and  my  force  would 
have  had  to  cease  all  movement  in  Persia.  Baghdad 
objected  very  much  to  being  asked  to  find  the  cars  to 
enable  me  to  carry  out  this  deal,  but  in  the  end  the  demand 
was  never  a  very  large  one.  I  received  petrol  from  the 
Baku  Soviets  to  a  value  of  about  £50,000,  and  when  I  had 
sent  over  ten  Ford  cars  in  part  payment  the  Government 
was  thrown  out  and  I  was  unable  to  complete  a  transac- 
tion with  a  Government  that  had  ceased  to  exist.  These 
petrol  transactions  had  the  additional  advantage  of 
enabling  me  to  strengthen  our  position  in  Enzeli  by 
sending  some  officers  down  to  reside  there  to  superintend 
the  unloading  and  dispatch  of   the   consignments.     By 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA.  171 

means  of  these  officers  and  the  aeroplane  guard  we  had 
now  secured  a  firm  foothold  in  Enzeli,  which  was  the 
first  step  towards  gaining  control  of  the  Caspian. 

Altogether  I  regarded  our  visit  to  Enzeli  as  extremely 
satisfactory,  we  had  arranged  our  future  plans  with 
Bicherakov,  we  had  secured  an  unlimited  petrol  supply 
and  we  had  established  ourselves  in  the  port.  Compared 
with  these  solid  advantages  I  made  light  of  having  had  to 
listen  to  a  lecture  on  the  iniquities  of  British  Imperialism 
from  the  lips  of  young  Comrade  Babookh,  aged  nineteen. 

On  June  28th  we  left  Enzeli  and  returned  to  Resht, 
staying  again  in  the  British  Consulate.  Some  fighting 
had  taken  place  in  our  absence,  and  the  Gurkhas  at 
Imamzadeh  Hashim  had  had  a  very  successful  encounter 
with  a  party  of  Jangalis  near  their  post,  in  which  the 
latter  were  quite  wiped  out,  and  the  fame  of  the  Gurkha 
kukri  spread  consternation  in  the  country-side.  Two 
officers  driving  in  a  motor-car  and  not  very  well  acquainted 
with  their  surroundings,  mistook  the  Kasma  road  for  the 
Enzeli  one,  and  headed  straight  into  the  enemy's  cordon. 
Within  a  mile  from  the  town  the  car  was  fired  on,  one 
officer  was  killed,  and  the  other  managed  by  a  good  use 
of  his  legs  to  get  back  to  the  town. 

The  ceremony  of  reinstatement  of  the  British  Consul 
was  arranged  for  June  29th,  and  we  went  carefully  into 
the  details  of  the  programme  beforehand  with  the  new 
Governor,  Sirdar -i-Kul,  so  that  there  should  be  no  hitch 
in  the  proceedings.  And  there  were  none,  except  that 
the  Governor  absented  himself,  sending  an  excuse  at 
the  last  moment  complaining  of  the  usual  Persian  attack 
of  sickness  that  arises  when  an  unpleasant  duty  has  to 
be  performed.  His  share  in  the  proceedings  was  to  have 
been  to  make  a  public  apology  on  behalf  of  the  Persian 
Government  for  the  insult  offered  to  the  flag,  and  to 
promise  better  behaviour  in  the  future — quite  enough  to 
bring  on  a  severe  attack  of  giddiness  and  indigestion. 


172    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

At  the  appointed  hour  a  British  guard  of  honour  was 
drawn  up  in  the  street  opposite  the  entrance  to  the  Con- 
sulate, and  an  armoured  car  stood  by  to  keep  order. 
The  British  Consul,  Mr.  Maclaren,  attended  with  his 
confreres  of  Russia  and  France  in  full  uniform,  and  the 
whole  of  the  Persian  town  police  were  formed  up  in  a 
body  under  the  chief  police  officer.  I  opened  the  ceremony 
by  making  a  brief  speech  explaining  the  nature  of  the 
occasion  and  trusting  that  this  day  would  see  the  final 
settlement  of  all  unpleasantness  between  the  Persians  and 
ourselves,  due  solely  to  misunderstanding,  and  inaugurate 
an  era  of  peace,  friendliness  and  mutual  respect.  This 
was  followed  by  speeches  in  a  similar  strain  by  each  of 
the  Consuls  present.  The  flag  was  hoisted  and  saluted  by 
the  guard  of  honour.  The  Persian  Head  of  Police  came 
forward,  and  made  an  humble  apology  for  the  behaviour 
of  the  police  in  the  recent  troubles  and  promised  on  their 
behalf  better  conduct  for  the  future.  The  entire  body  of 
police  then  marched  past  and  saluted  the  flag,  thus 
bringing  the  ceremony  to  a  very  picturesque  and  satis- 
factory conclusion.  Mr.  Maclaren  then  handed  over  his 
duties  to  Mr.  Moir,  who  had  been  appointed  Consul 
in  his  place,  and  with  whom  I  parted  with  great 
regret. 

On  the  next  day  we  left  for  Kasvin,  reaching  our 
destination  without  being  fired  at  on  the  road,  which 
showed  that  our  system  of  piquets  was  a  very  efficient  one. 
At  Kasvin  I  was  able  to  take  stock  of  events  up  to  date 
and  consider  our  further  movements.  With  regard  to 
the  former  we  had  good  cause  for  satisfaction,  and  with 
regard  to  the  latter  good  grounds  for  hope. 

It  may  be  as  well  to  say  a  few  words  here  as  to  our 
achievements  up  to  date,  and  to  consider  what  would 
have  happened  had  the  Dunsterforce  not  been  in  position 
on  the  Kermanshah-Hamadan-Kasvin  road  in  February 
and  March  1918  to  thwart  the  Turks  in  these  partg.    It 


CO- 


THE  LAST  STAGE  TO  THE  SEA  173 

is  obvious  that  in  such  a  case  enemy  detachments  would 
have  occupied  Bijar  and  Zinjan,  bringing  them  into  direct 
touch  with  the  Jangalis,  and  enormously  strengthening 
the  position  of  the  latter.     In  April,  May  and  June,  had 
we  not  been  on  the  spot  to  co-operate  with  Bicherakov 
against  the  Jangalis,   the  latter  would  have  offered  no 
opposition  to  the  passage  of  the  Cossacks  through  their 
country,  and  there  would  have  been  no  inducement  for 
Bicherakov  to  go  out  of  his  way  to  fight  people  who  were 
not  intending  to  molest  him.     His  interest  in  Persia  had 
entirely  ceased,  and  his  only  desire  was  to  get  his  troops 
out  of  the  country  and  into  the  Caucasus,  a  desire  which 
accorded  in  every  way  with  the  feelings  of  Kuchik  Khan, 
who  would  be  only  too  glad  to  facilitate  his  departure. 
The  Jangali  Army,  under  its  German  and  Austrian  leaders, 
with   supplies   of   arms   and   munitions   from   the   Turks 
would  therefore  have  encountered  no  opposition  in  their 
advance  on  Kasvin  and  Teheran,  and  the  armed  population 
of   Hamadan   and   other   towns   under   their   democratic 
leaders  would  have  raised  the  Jangali  banner  and  joined 
the  revolution.     The  whole  of  North  Persia  would  have 
been   overrun   with  Bolshevism   (into  which  Kuchikism 
would    soon   have   degenerated) ;    the   British    Legation 
in   Teheran,  the  staff  of  the  Imperial  Bank   and  Indo- 
European  telegraph,    the   Consuls    and    the    missionaries 
would  have  had  to  flee  the  country  and  would  have  been 
lucky  to   escape   with  their   lives.     It  may  seem  going 
rather    far  afield  to   build    all    these   surmises    on    the 
prospects  of  success  of  such  an  army  as  Kuchik  Khan's, 
but  I   do  not  consider  the  lurid  picture  which  I  have 
drawn   of   possible    contingencies    to    be    in    the    least 
exaggerated. 

Finally,  with  North  Persia  in  a  state  of  Bolshevism, 
the  remainder  of  Persia  following  suit  and  linking  up  with 
Turkestan,  and  whole  of  Central  Asia  and  Afghanistan 
would  be  thrown  into  chaos.    This  is  exactly  what  the 


174    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Germans  were  playing  for  in  these  parts,  and  it  makes  one's 
blood  run  cold  to  think  how  near  they  were  to  a  gigantic 
success.  It  may  fairly  be  claimed  that  the  action  of  our 
force  was  the  sole  cause  of  complete  failure  of  this  far- 
reaching  effort  of  German  diplomacy. 


CHAPTER    XI 
TURKS,  INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS 

GETTING  back  to  Kasvin  had  quite  a  sort  of  home 
feeling  about  it. 

What  a  different  Kasvin  to  the  one  that  had  made 
faces  at  us  in  February  !  Now  there  was  nothing  but 
smiles  and  polite  attentions.  The  Governor  called  to 
inquire  after  my  health,  the  Rais-i-telefon  beamed  grate- 
fully as  I  passed  him  in  my  car  in  the  High  Street  and  the 
inhabitants  generally  looked  cheerful  and  friendly.  We 
had  by  this  time  given  English  names  to  all  the  streets  in 
these  Persian  towns  to  facilitate  the  giving  of  directions 
to  drivers.  Thus  Oxford  Street,  Piccadilly  and  the  Strand 
greeted  one  in  each  town  with  a  cheery  reminiscence  of 
the  Homeland. 

The  imposing  of  such  a  nomenclature  on  the  streets 
of  these  historic  towns  may  savour  somewhat  of  vandalism, 
and  we  had  many  kind  suggestions  as  to  a  more  suitable 
series  of  names  commemorating  the  heroes  of  ancient 
history.  These  suggestions  made  a  strong  appeal  to  our 
artistic  sense,  but  in  war  time  the  artistic  must  give  way 
to  the  purely  utilitarian.  Names  were  chosen  which  the 
lorry  drivers  would  remember  and  which  would  cheer 
them  up.  Memories  of  Rustam  the  valorous,  and  other 
Persian  heroes  of  the  glorious  past,  would  have  been  quite 
beyond  their  powers  of  appreciation  or  of  memory. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  these  names  made  Cyrus, 

175 


176    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Darius,  Xerxes  and  Alexander  the  Great  turn  in  their 
graves  ;  if  so  I  regret  it.  In  spite  of  our  historic  sur- 
roundings we  had  to  be  ultra-modern  ;  and  I  am  sure 
that  the  names  of  the  streets  cannot  have  been  half  so 
distressing  to  the  spirits  of  the  ancient  heroes  as  my 
"Daylight  Saving  BiU." 

As  we  approached  the  period  of  long  summer  days,  it 
seemed  a  pity  to  be  letting  all  that  daylight  run  to  waste, 
so  I  ordered  all  clocks  to  be  put  forward  two  hours.     Great 
consternation  reigned  for  forty-eight  hours,  and  after  that 
the  new  time  seemed  no  more  remarkable  than  the  old. 
The  scheme  was  a  great  success  from  my  point  of  view, 
but  a  dead  failure  from  every   one  else's.     It  certainly 
resulted  in  my  getting  two  more  hours  a  day  work  out 
of  every  one,  which  constituted  the  success  I  aimed  at, 
though  just  how  it  achieved  this  happy  result  it  is  dijQ&cult 
to  explain.     At  first  sight  it  looks  as  if  the  account  would 
balance  itself.     You  commence  the  day  two  hours  earlier 
and  you  end  it  two  hours  earlier.     But  in  practice  those 
two  extra  hours  do  come  into  the  work- time  somehow, 
and  one  still  has  plenty  of  time  for  exercise  and  recreation. 
And  it  is  remarkable  how  one's  mind  is  deceived  by  one's 
watch.     If  I   had  ordered   convoys  to  start  at    4    a.m. 
the  drivers  and  travellers  would  have  felt  aggrieved,  but 
when  they  looked  at  their  watches  and  saw  the  hands 
pointing  to  6  a.m.  (although  they  still  knew  it  was  4  a.m. 
by  real  time)  they  were  quite  cheerful  about  it. 

The  drivers  had  on  the  whole  a  rather  worried  time  of 
it  in  these  days.  Not  only  were  their  watches  put  forward 
two  hours,  but  from  Hamadan  northwards  they  had  to 
have  a  new  rule  of  the  road  to  meet  the  Russian  or  Persian 
traffic  rule,  "  Keep  to  the  right."  If,  in  addition  to  fic- 
titious time  and  a  new  rule  of  the  road  they  had  also 
been  confronted  with  streets  named  after  Persian  heroes, 
they  would  have  gone  mad.  It  was  only  just  the  cheery 
sign  of  Piccadilly  and  Leicester  Square  that  prevented 


TURKS,   INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS       1T7 

them  from  feeling  that  they  were  living  in  Wonderland 
with  the  March  Hare  and  Alice. 

If  we  had  been  isolated,  both  the  new  time  and  the 
change  in  the  rule  of  the  road  would  have  worked  quite 
simply,  but  as  we  had  now  through  connection  with 
Baghdad  and  there  was  a  constant  stream  of  traffic  up 
and  down  the  road,  the  sudden  change  on  entering  and 
leaving  my  area  was  too  much  to  impose  on  the  men, 
and  eventually  I  had  to  give  up  the  daylight  scheme. 
The  rule  of  the  road  had  to  be  enforced,  but  it  was  very 
hard  on  drivers  to  have  to  remember  "  Keep  to  the  left  '* 
as  far  as  Hamadan,  and  from  there  on  "  Keep  to  the  right,*' 
and  after  a  month  in  my  area,  having  become  accustomed 
to  **  Keep  to  the  right,"  to  pass  down  the  road  again 
and  get  run  in  for  not  keeping  to  the  left. 

About  this  time  Hamadan  began  to  misbehave,  and 
it  was  necessary  for  the  Governor  (the  same  man  who 
had  been  Assistant  Governor  on  our  first  arrival  here)  and 
Ferid-ud-Dowleh,  the  leader  of  the  Extreme  Democrats,  to 
be  removed  elsewhere.  From  the  date  of  their  departure 
all  troubles  in  Hamadan  ceased.  The  Hamadan  levies, 
under  Colonel  Donnan,  were  beginning  to  look  quite  smart 
and  soldierlike,  and  were  already  doing  useful  work. 
The  supply  question  was  no  longer  acute.  But  another 
fresh  trouble  occurred  in  the  shape  of  a  money  famine. 

The  actual  currency  in  Persia  is  not  very  extensive 
and  our  demands  were  now  very  large.  The  problem 
was  how,  after  being  drained  of  all  their  coin  to  meet 
our  requirements,  the  Bank  was  to  attract  the  cash  back 
to  their  vaults  (through  the  medium  of  depositors  and  in 
payment  of  bills  of  exchange  on  London)  with  sufficient 
rapidity  to  meet  our  next  cheque.  As  our  requirements 
increased  daily,  it  was  necessary  that  the  krans  paid  out 
to  us  at  one  door,  and  disbursed  by  us  to  our  creditors, 
should  immediately  enter  the  Bank  by  another  door  to 
be  in  time  to  meet  our  further  demands.     Thanks  to  the 

13 


178    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

ingenuity  and  skill  of  Mr.  McMurray,  the  manager  of  the 
Imperial  Bank  of  Persia  at  Hamadan,  the  circulation  was 
maintained  at  the  high  speed  necessary  to  cover  these 
transactions.  How  he  did  it  no  one  knows  ;  but  the 
miraculous  feat  was  accomplished,  and  though  the  horror 
of  a  possible  financial  crisis  was  added  to  that  of  all  the 
other  crises,  the  crash  was  always  averted.  Our  paymaster, 
Major  Whitmarsh,  lived  through  very  anxious  times,  and 
his  task  was  not  one  to  be  envied. 

In  view  of  the  probable  advent  of  troops,  huts  for 
their  accommodation  had  to  be  run  up  at  Hamadan  and 
Kasvin,  and  the  staff  of  engineers  under  Major  Haslam, 
R.E.,  was  kept  very  busy. 

We  now  received  an  addition  to  our  strength  in  the 
advent  of  a  party  of  the  Royal  Navy  under  Commodore 
Norris,  R.N.,  and  several  four-inch  guns  were  on  their 
way  up  from  Baghdad  to  enable  us  to  "  rule  the  waves," 
once  we  could  get  a  chance  of  arming  merchantmen  on 
the  Caspian. 

Colonel  Battine  also  arrived  and  was  selected,  owing 
to  his  knowledge  of  the  Russian  language,  to  take  a  party 
to  Krasnovodsk,  the  port  on  the  Turkestan  side  of  the 
Caspian  immediately  opposite  to  Baku.  The  Krasnovodsk 
situation  was  a  very  favourable  one,  the  strategical 
importance  of  that  port  being  only  second  to  that  of 
Baku  as,  in  the  event  of  the  latter  being  taken  by  the 
Turks,  we  could  hold  the  former  and  still  keep  the 
gate  to  Central  Asia  closed  to  the  enemy.  The  Govern- 
ment of  Krasnovodsk,  under  a  most  able  railway 
engineer  of  the  name  of  Kuhn,  was  strongly  anti- 
Bolshevik  and  pro-British. 

From  Krasnovodsk  the  railway  runs  to  Askhabad  and 
Merv,  and  a  strong  Bolshevik  force  was  operating  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Merv,  against  which  a  mission  under 
General  Malleson  had  been  sent  which  was  moving  north 
from    Meshed   on   to   this   railway.     Colonel   Battine   at 


TURKS,   INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS         179 

Krasnovodsk  would  be  able  to  work  in  with  Kuhn  and 
assist  the  operations  of  General  Malleson's  mission. 

Lieut. -Colonel  Rawlinson,  R.F.A.,  also  reported  his 
arrival  and  was  at  once  placed  on  special  duty  as  an 
expert  in  camouflage  and  extemporized  motor  machine- 
gun  work,  in  which  he  excelled. 

With  our  eyes  fixed  on  the  Caucasus  we  had  none  the 
less  to  keep  a  very  sharp  look-out  on  our  left  and  left 
rear  aganist  the  activities  of  the  Turks  from  the  direction 
of  Tabriz  and  Urumiah.  The  situation  at  the  latter  place 
must  be  described. 

The  town  and  district  of  Urumiah  lying  on  the  west  of 
Lake  Urumiah,  the  southern  shore  of  which  is  distant 
about  220  miles  from  Hamadan,  contain  a  population 
estimated  at  about  80,000,  the  majority  of  whom  belong 
to  the  two  Christian  communities  of  the  Armenian  Church 
and  the  Assyrian  Church,  the  latter  possessing  the  tribal 
name  of  Jilus.  The  district  had  for  the  past  year  been 
entirely  surrounded  by  the  5th  and  6th  Turkish  Divisions, 
against  whom  the  Christian  inhabitants  had  so  far  put 
up  a  very  good  fight ;  in  fact  in  a  recent  sortie  they  had 
signally  defeated  the  Turks,  taking  a  large  number  of 
officers  and  men  prisoners  and  capturing  considerable 
war  material.  The  Jilus  were  trained  and  led  by  a  body 
of  Russian  officers,  who  had  been  sent  to  them  for  the 
purpose,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Kuzmin.  Latterly 
there  appeared  to  have  been  some  misunderstanding 
between  the  Jilus  and  their  Russian  staff,  several  officers 
of  the  latter  having  been  killed  by  their  men.  The  rights 
and  wrongs  of  this  trouble  I  was  never  able  to  ascertain, 
but  it  seems  that  the  Assyrians  suspected  treachery  on 
the  part  of  the  Russians.  Aga  Petros,  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  leader  of  the  Jilus  appears  to  have  been  a  man 
of  considerable  character  and  had  the  reputation  of 
bravery  and  skill  in  action. 

At  this  time  our  party  under  Major  Starnes  in  Bijar 


180    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

was  within  120  miles  of  the  Jilu  territory,  but  the  Turkish 
Army  intervened  at  Sauj-Bulaq.  The  two  Turkish  divi- 
sions were  very  weak,  being  certainly  well  under  half 
strength,  and  the  portion  south  of  the  lake  was  quite 
insignificant. 

The  Jilus  had  got  a  messenger  through  to  us  some  time 
before  this,  asking  for  help  in  the  matter  of  arms,  ammu- 
nition and  money.  This  help  we  were  quite  ready  to 
render  and  a  reply  was  sent  by  aeroplane  directing  them 
to  fight  their  way  through  the  Turkish  cordon  south  of 
the  lake  and  meet  us  at  Sain-Kaleh  on  a  certain  date, 
when  a  party  of  ours  would  hand  over  to  them  the  arms 
and  ammunition  asked  for. 

The  weakness  of  the  Turks  in  this  neighbourhood 
suggested  the  consideration  of  a  plan  for  permanently 
ousting  them  from  this  area,  and  for  securing  the  line  from 
Bijar  to  Urumiah  by  our  own  troops.  It  appeared  that 
only  in  this  way  could  the  Jilus  be  finally  saved  from  the 
Turks,  as  the  pressure  of  the  latter  would  eventually 
compel  surrender  in  the  ordinary  course  of  events.  We 
had,  however,  too  many  irons  in  the  fire  to  permit  of  this 
scheme  being  entertained,  and  in  any  case  before  it  could 
have  been  brought  into  operation  the  Jilus  solved  the 
problem  for  themselves  in  another  way. 

According  to  the  pre-arranged  scheme  they  broke 
through  the  Turkish  troops  south  of  the  lake  and  met 
our  party  who  had  gone  up  to  take  the  arms  and  ammu- 
nition to  them.  But  there  was  some  delay  in  their  return  ; 
wild  rumours  were  spread  in  Urumiah  to  the  effect  that 
they  had  all  been  slaughtered  ;  and  the  whole  population, 
men,  women  and  children,  with  all  their  cattle  and  be- 
longings came  flying  down  the  road  to  Bijar  in  appalling 
confusion,  with  the  Turks  and  Kurds  on  their  heels  mas- 
sacring and  plundering  the  unfortunate  refugees.  As  soon 
as  they  came  into  contact  with  our  troops  the  latter 
formed  a  rear-guard,  and  the  remainder  of  the  population, 


TURKS,  INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS         181 

probably  some  50,000,  were  rescued  and  sent  down  to 
Baghdad.  These  events  took  place  at  a  much  later  date 
than  this  portion  of  the  general  narrative,  but  the  whole 
incident  will  be  more  intelligible  to  the  reader  if  I  conclude 
it  here.  The  refugees  were  cared  for  by  the  British 
authorities — rationed  and  encamped  in  various  localities, 
the  strong  men  being  formed  into  levies  and  labour  corps 
and  the  others,  together  with  the  women  and  the  cattle, 
settled  in  an  encampment  in  Mesopotamia.  They  are 
now  being  repatriated. 

So  many  questions  required  discussion  and  explanation 
that  I  thought  it  would  be  best  to  make  a  hurried  trip  to 
General  Head  Quarters,  Baghdad  ;  but  before  doing  so 
I  should  have  to  visit  Teheran  to  get  the  Minister's  opinion 
on  several  matters. 

I  accordingly  left  for  Teheran  on  July  4th,  arriving 
the  same  day.  I  found  Sir  Charles  Marling  installed  in 
his  summer  residence  at  Gulahek,  about  17  miles  outside 
Teheran.  The  Legation  grounds  at  Gulahek  are  even 
more  striking  than  those  in  Teheran.  The  house  stands 
on  the  slopes  of  the,  foot-hills  of  the  main  Elburz  chain 
in  a  beautiful  English -looking  wood,  with  rippling  streams 
of  clear  water  running  through  the  grounds  in  channels 
lined  with  turquoise-blue  tiles.  My  stay  in  this  delightful 
spot  was  necessarily  short,  and  on  July  7th  I  was  back 
in    Kasvin  arranging  for    my  further  trip   to  Baghdad. 

I  was  particularly  sorry  to  have  to  leave  Teheran  at 
this  time,  as  the  capital  was  in  the  throes  of  a  "  Cabinet 
Crisis,"  and  it  would  have  been  interesting  to  watch  the 
progress  of  this  political  upheaval,  w^hich  excited  only 
very  mild  comment  in  this  land  of  topsy-turvydom  and 
which  finally  proved  abortive. 

I  could  ill  afford  the  time  for  a  trip  to  Baghdad,  and 
it  seemed  best  therefore  to  endeavour  to  carry  out  the 
journey  by  aeroplane.  I  begged  for  a  two-seater  plane 
to  be  sent  up  to  fetch  me  down  ;  an  endeavour  was  made 


182    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

to  comply  with  my  request,  but  with  the  hot-weather 
conditions  in  the  Mesopotamian  plains  it  proved  impossible 
to  get  the  plane  up  to  me,  and  I  was  informed  that  it 
would  only  be  possible  to  convey  my  by  plane  the  last 
80  miles  from  Mir j  ana  :  even  in  such  a  short  distance 
the  saving  in  time  would  be  considerable. 

No  news  had  yet  been  received  from  Bicherakov's 
force,  and  I  was  naturally  very  anxious  to  hear  how  his 
adventure  was  progressing.  The  possibility  of  our  getting 
to  Baku  either  through  the  medium  of  his  assistance  or 
on  our  own,  appeared  to  be  daily  becoming  more  hopeful ; 
I  was  now  in  touch  with  Baku  by  almost  daily  messengers, 
and  our  friends  the  Social  Revolutionaries  seemed  likely 
to  be  able  to  bring  off  shortly  the  coup-d'etat  which  was 
to  throw  out  the  Bolsheviks,  establish  a  new  form  of 
government  and  invite  British  assistance.  To  enable 
me  to  seize  this  opportunity,  which  might  occur  at  any 
moment,  I  still  lacked  troops  ;  but  I  had  the  welcome 
news  that  the  39th  Infantry  Brigade,  composed  of  new 
army  regiments,  was  being  dispatched  to  me  with  all 
speed  in  motor-lorries  under  the  command  of  Lieut. - 
Colonel  Faviell.  This  brigade  was  composed  of  the 
following  regiments  from  the  midlands  of  England,  the 
7th  Service  Battalions  of  the  Gloucesters  and  North 
Staffords  and  the  9th  Service  Battalions  of  the  Worcesters 
and  War  wicks. 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  by  me 
from  Kasvin  on  July  13,  1918,  will  serve  to  focus  events 
up  to  date  : 

"  Since  last  writing  to  you  many  changes  have  taken 
place,  and  these  changes  have  in  a  general  way  been 
favourable  to  us. 

"  The  various  situations  are  rather  perplexing,  but  they 
are  obviously  interdependent,  and  success  on  any  one 
of  the  lines  reacts  favourably  on  all  the  others.     Omitting 


TURKS,  INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS.        183 

the  kaleidoscopic  changes  of  the  Russian  revolution  which 
affect  us  very  nearly,  but  are  impossible  to  deal  with  in 
the  scope  of  an  ordinary  letter,  there  are  : 

1.  The  local  Persian  situation. 

2.  The  Baku  situation. 

3.  The  Krasnovodsk-Turkestan  situation. 

4.  The  Tabriz  Turkish  invasion  situation. 

5.  The  Lake  Urumiah  situation. 

6.  The  Jangali  situation. 

7.  The  raising  of  levies  and  irregulars. 

"  1.  The  Persian  Situation. — From  a  military  point  of 
view  everything  in  this  part  of  Persia  is  satisfactory  ; 
troops  sufficient  for  safety  are  already  on  their  way, 
and  there  seems  a  good  prospect  of  my  getting  in  the  end 
sufficient  troops  to  enable  me  to  deal  successfully  with  all 
the  above  situations — all  of  which  are  at  the  present 
moment  favourable. 

"  The  bad  morale  of  the  Turkish  troops,  and  the  quarrel 
between  the  Turks  and  Germans  in  the  Caucasus,  suggests 
a  bold  policy  on  our  part.  One  division,  exclusive  of 
line  of  communication  troops,  would  do  all  the  work. 

"  As  regards  the  morale  of  the  Turks,  they  probably 
have  2,000  men  in  Tabriz.  I  have  a  small  party  of  some 
60  officers  and  N.C.O.'s  on  the  Kasvin-Mianeh  road,  of 
which  the  advanced  portion,  consisting  of  one  L.A.M. 
car  and  a  few  officers  under  Captain  Osborne,  was  recently 
within  a  few  miles  of  Tabriz  on  the  Shabli  Pass.  The 
Turks  are  probably  not  aware  of  my  extreme  weakness 
here,  but  they  must  know  that  we  are  not  in  force  ;  yet 
the  above  party  was  not  molested  and  men  desert  from 
them  to  us  frequently. 

"  From  a  political  point  of  view  it  is  difficult  in  a  short 
space  to  convey  a  correct  idea  of  things.  From  intercepted 
correspondence  it  is  obvious  that  a  very  large  number  of 
officials  are  pro -Turk  :  the  people  of  the  country  certainly 


184    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

are  not.  A  great  deal  of  propaganda  work  is  carried  on 
from  the  Turkish  Legation  in  Teheran,  and  the  Persian 
Government  make  no  sign  of  resisting  or  even  protesting 
against  the  Turkish  invasion. 

"  I  do  very  little  propaganda  work,  except  that  I  occa- 
sionally yield  to  the  temptation  of  issuing  a  proclamation 
putting  facts  before  the  people,  which  may  do  some  good. 
But  our  real  propaganda  lies  in  our  presence  here,  the 
appearance  and  behaviour  of  our  officers  and  men  and 
the  good  cash  we  pay  for  our  requirements.  The  towns 
are  now  all  behaving  well ;  all  begin  with  furious  anti- 
British  agitation  and  end  soon  after  with  most  active 
assistance  and  gratitude  for  security  and  order.  Taking 
the  towns  in  turn  :  Enzeli  is  still  run  by  the  Baku  Red 
Army,  who  object  to  our  presence  there,  but  I  think  they 
are  getting  accustomed  to  it,  and  I  gradually  increase 
the  strength  of  the  detachment  there  until  I  shortly  hope 
to  be  able  to  ignore  the  revolutionaries.  Resht,  which 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  Jangalis  until  a  few  weeks  ago, 
is  a  large  town  with  hotels  and  cinemas,  filled  with 
a  heterogeneous  collection  of  Persians,  Greeks  and 
Armenians.  It  is  distinctly  pro-British,  but  I  have 
not  had  time  to  clean  it  up  properly  yet.  Captain 
Cockerell,  my  A.P.M.,  is  the  last  word  in  A.P.M.'s, 
and  has  the  worst  conspirators  either  eating  out  of 
Lis  hand  or  locked  up  in  less  than  no  time.  When 
I  can  get  him  down  to  Resht  the  town  won't  know 
itself. 

"  Kasvin  has  ceased  anti-British  agitation.  The 
religious  leaders  drink  tea  with  me ;  the  leading 
democrats,  Turkish  agents  and  others  are  either  in  prison 
or  have  fled.  By  the  excellent  Intelligence  system  run 
by  Saunders  I  can  produce  a  list  of  principal  inhabitants 
showing  their  exact  degree  of  guilt. 

"  Hamadan,  since  the  arrest  of  the  Governor  and  of  the 
chief  firebrand  Ferid-ud-Dowleh,  is  quite  quiet  and  has 


TURKS,  INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS         185 

not  forgotten  to  be  grateful  for  famine  relief,  which  in 
the  early  days  when  I  had  no  troops  was  of  more  value 
than  many  machine-guns.  Bijar,  Mianeh  and  Zinjan 
are  all  quiet  and  contented.  With  all  this  I  do  not  allow 
myself  to  be  lulled  into  a  false  sense  of  security,  and  I 
am  prepared  to  meet  an  outbreak  at  any  time  in  any  of 
these  towns.  With  aU  the  enemy  activity  around  us 
and  the  weakness  of  my  small  isolated  parties  in  distant 
areas  the  risk  is  considerable,  and  the  marvel  is  that 
nothing  has  so  far  happened.  Zinjan  is  held  to  be 
fanatical,  pro-Turk  and  anti-British.  On  the  entry  of 
my  party  into  the  town  two  of  their  servants  were 
murdered  in  the  streets  by  day  for  serving  the  British, 
yet  the  total  strength  of  my  party  there  had  to  be  at  one 
time  as  low  as  twenty  officers  and  N.C.O.'s.  But  we 
grow  stronger  every  day  and  the  risks  are  less. 

"  The  capital  is  quite  unlike  the  rest  of  Persia.  It 
still  keeps  up  real  neutrality,  and  the  first  sight  on  entering 
the  town  is  the  flags  of  the  German  and  Turkish  Embassies. 
An  Austrian  officer,  whom  I  rode  up  to  to  have  a  good  look 
at,  startled  me  by  taking  off  his  hat  and  bowing.  The 
Parliament  does  not  sit,  and  the  Cabinet  is  quite  useless 
and  any  work  it  does  is  against  our  interests.  I  have 
just  returned  from  Teheran,  where  I  stayed  three  days 
with  the  Minister.  A  Cabinet  crisis  was  in  progress,  but 
showed  no  signs  of  becoming  serious.  Teheran  is  the 
centre  of  all  enemy  propaganda,  as  it  not  only  contains 
the  enemy  Legations,  but  is  a  harbour  of  refuge  for  all 
the  firebrands  in  the  provincial  towns  whom  I  fail  to 
arrest. 

"  As  regards  the  general  military  situation,  the  time  is 
ripe  for  bold  action  on  our  part.  The  Armenians  are 
not  yet  finished,  and  continue  to  hold  their  own  bravely 
in  isolated  localities  such  as  Alexandropol  and  Urumiah. 
The  Turks  are  sick  of  the  war  and  sick  of  the  Germans 
and  have  no  money.    The  Germans  are  quarrelling  with 


186    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

the  Turks  and  finding  it  harder  to  put  up  troops  than  we 
do.  The  Turks  want  to  take  Baku,  the  Germans  want 
to  stop  them  from  doing  so. 

"2.  The  Baku  Situation. — The  power  is  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  Sovietski  Vlast  (let  us  call  them  S.V.'s), 
another  name  for  the  Bolsheviks.  They  are  in  touch 
with  the  Central  Committee  at  Moscow,  but  are  daily 
losing  power.  It  seems  probable  that  the  Social  Revo- 
lutionary party  (called  S.R.'s  for  short)  may  oust  them 
at  any  time.  But  as  Baku  depends  on  Astrakhan  for 
food  and  ammunition  it  will  not  pay  the  S.R.'s  to  turn 
the  S.V.'s  out  until  similar  action  has  been  successful  in 
Astrakhan.  I  interviewed  Cheliapin  at  Enzeli  a  few 
days  ago  and  attach  a  short  precis  of  our  conversation, 
from  which  it  will  be  seen  how  uncompromising  is  the 
attitude  of  the  S.V.'s. 

"  I  have  had  several  talks  with  the  S.R.'s,  whose  pro- 
gramme is  far  more  suitable  for  our  purposes  and  is  con- 
structive instead  of  being,  like  that  of  the  S.V.'s,  purely 
destructive.  They  want  our  aid,  especially  financially. 
I  keep  on  friendly  terms  with  the  S.R.'s,  and  they  know 
they  could  rely  on  us  for  a  great  deal  if  they  got  the 
power  into  their  hands. 

"  Richer akov  sailed  for  Alyat  at  the  beginning  of  the 
month,  taking  with  him  five  of  my  officers  and  four 
armoured  cars.  I  went  to  see  him  off  at  Enzeli  and  we 
mutually  agreed  on  plans  which  give  great  hope  of  success, 
but  which  I  will  not  repeat  here.  He  has  caused  great 
consternation  among  the  other  Russians  by  throwing  in 
his  lot  with  the  Bolsheviks,  but  I  am  sure  he  is  right. 
^/  It  was  the  only  way  to  get  a  footing,  and  once  he  is 
established  it  will  be  a  case  of  the  tail  wagging  the  dog. 

"  None  but  myself,  Russian  or  English,  believes  in 
him,  but  I  do  so  sincerely.  In  any  case  I  should  have  to 
compel  myself  to  believe  in  him,  as  he  is  literally  our 
only  hope  at  the  present  moment.     He  is  all  for  Russia, 


TURKS,   INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS         187 

and  the  plans  he  intends  to  carry  out  are  in  the  interests 
of  Russia  in  general  and  the  North  Caucasus  in  particular, 
but  they  entirelj^  coincide  with  our  interests. 

"  I  have  had  practically  no  news  of  him  since  he  left 
and  I  am  naturally  anxious.  His  whole  scheme  may  be 
a  failure,  the  risks  are  great  and  the  temper  of  his  men 
a  little  uncertain.  The  Russians  here  all  think  they  wdll 
desert  when  they  get  near  their  homes.  I  do  not  share 
this  opinion,  though  I  think  some  may  go. 

"  3.  The  Krasnovodsk  Situation  from  our  point  of  view 
has  not  developed.  I  am  sending  on  a  small  body  of 
officers  and  men,  to  see  how  they  are  received.  If  the 
cotton  there  can  be  saved  from  the  Germans  it  will  be  a 
great  thing  ;  at  present  it  is  being  shipped  up  the  Volga 
via  Astrakhan  for  their  use.  Turkestan  is  hard  to  under- 
stand just  at  present  and  the  news  we  get  is  very  conflicting, 
but  there  seems  no  doubt  that  the  people  are  inclined 
to  put  politics  on  one  side  and  to  accept  any  form  of 
foreign  aid  that  will  lead  to  a  restoration  of  order.  Next 
in  importance  to  the  cotton  question  is  the  question  of 
the  very  large  number — possibly  30,000 — of  German  and 
Austrian  released  prisoners  in  Turkestan.  If  my  mission 
is  well  received  it  might  be  possible  seriously  to  hamper 
German  movements  towards  Afghanistan  in  the  event 
of  their  capturing  Baku. 

"  4.  The  Tabriz  Situation. — The  Turks  have  established 
themselves  in  Tabriz  and  have  probably  about  2,000  men 
there.  I  do  not  see  that  they  have  much  chance  of  increas- 
ing their  strength  without  altering  their  present  plans  in 
the  Caucasus.  I  do  not  think  that  they  contemplate  an 
invasion  of  Persia  via  Zinjan  and  Kasvin,  but  if  they  do 
I  should  soon  have  sufficient  troops  to  secure  that  line. 
They  would  like  to  draw  off  my  troops  in  that  direction 
and  content  themselves  with  the  occupation  of  just  the 
north  corner  of  Azerbaijan,  including  Ardebil  and  the 
port  of  Astara  on  the  Caspian.     They  would  then  join 


188    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

hands  with  the  Jangalis,  and  their  scheme  would,  if 
successful,  at  the  cost  of  very  few  troops  give  them  (a)  sup- 
plies, (6)  a  port  upon  the  Caspian,  (c)  the  cutting  off  from 
the  South  Caspian  of  British  movements.  They  have  no 
enterprise,  however,  or  they  would  long  ago  have  turned 
my  detachment  out  of  Mianeh,  whereas  they  allowed  a 
very  small  party  to  remain  on  the  Shabli  Pass  till  quite 
recently.  Owing  to  the  defection  of  the  Persian  Cossacks 
who  it  was  hoped  would  act  with  my  party,  the  L.A.M. 
car  was  nearly  captured,  and  the  Turkish  failure  to  do 
so  shows  how  little  they  are  worth. 

"  5.  The  Lake  Urumiah  Situation. — This  is  the  most 
interesting  of  all,  and  promises  most.  All  the  schemes 
are  interdependent,  and  our  success  in  Urumiah  would 
mean  moving  the  Turks  from  Tabriz,  joining  up  with 
the  Armenians  near  Alexandropol,  threatening  the  whole 
of  the  Turkish  movement  in  the  Caucasus,  and  helping 
Baku  and  the  Caspian  situation. 

**  An  aeroplane  flew  on  July  9th  to  Mianeh,  where  we 
had  prepared  a  landing-ground  and  small  stock  of  petrol. 
On  the  10th  it  flew  to  Urumiah,  returned  to  Mianeh,  picked 
up  petrol  and  returned  here  after  a  most  successful  flight. 
Lieutenant  Pennington,  the  aviator,  carried  a  message 
from  me  to  Aga  Petros,  the  fighting  cleric  of  the  Assyrians. 
On  alighting  he  was  received  with  a  most  tremendous 
ovation,  having  to  submit  to  having  his  hands  and  knees 
kissed  by  almost  the  entire  population.  The  town  being 
entirely  surrounded  by  the  Turks  had  had  no  news  for 
about  four  months.  They  were  certain  that  we  had  no 
troops  in  Persia  and  were  equally  certain  that  we  had  taken 
Mosul.  They  were  therefore  on  the  point  of  fighting 
their  way  through  to  us  in  Mosul — a  population  of  80,000 
with  perhaps  10,000  fighting  men.  The  result  would 
have  been  a  terrible  massacre  of  Christians  and  the 
needless  surrender  of  Urumiah  to  the  Turks. 

"  All  this  Pennington  was  just  in  time  to  prevent.    We 


TURKS,   INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS  189 

are  taking  ammunition  up  to  them  and  have  arranged 
to  meet  at  Sainkaleh  on  July  22nd,  they  fighting  their 
way  through  the  Turks  at  Sauj  Bulaq,  where  there  is  no 
great  force.  The  whole  of  the  Turkish  division  is  in  the 
area  south-west  of  the  lake,  but  the  division  is  weak  and 
dispersed  and  the  operation  should  be  successful.  If  it 
prove  successful  and  I  can  follow  up  with  British  troops 
and  hold  the  line  Hamadan  to  Urumiah,  we  outflank 
Tabriz  and  secure  rich  crops  which  the  Turks  are  now 
engaged  in  reaping. 

**  6.  The  Jangali  Situation. — The  Jangali  bubble  was 
pricked  at  last  on  June  12th,  when  Bicherakov  fought 
the  Battle  of  Menjil  Bridge  with  his  Cossacks  and  one 
squadron  14th  Hussars.  .  .  .  The  aeroplanes  are  especially 
useful,  as  troops  fighting  through  the  dense  jungle  would 
be  terribly  handicapped  and  casualties  would  be  high. 

"7.  Levies  and  Irregulars. — We  have  now  three  groups 
of  levies  at  Hamadan  and  Kasvin,  with  a  total  of  800 
men.  They  have  already  been  useful  in  holding  posts 
on  the  roads  and  passes  and  in  forming  escorts.  They 
are  good  value  as  a  political  move,  and  are  quite  useful 
to  the  above  extent ;  but  I  never  expect  to  use  them 
against  the  Turks. 

"  The  irregulars  are  being  raised  by  Wagstaff  from 
among  the  Shahsavens  and  by  Stames  from  among  the 
Kurds  at  Bijar.  I  wish  them  to  be  not  merely  mercenaries 
but  to  be  actuated  in  the  first  place  by  a  dislike  of  the 
Turk  and  a  desire  to  fight  him  on  their  own  ground. 
They  will  only  be  assembled  for  short  periods  to  carry 
out  raids.  Both  the  Shahsavens  and  Kurds  ought  to 
work  well  on  these  lines. 

"  The  Turks  are  playing  the  same  game,  and  I  have 
told  my  parties  that  their  first  efforts  should  be  directed 
to  countering  the  enemy's  schemes. 

"  In  the  early  days  of  the  war  the  Germans  were  badly 
let  down  by  their  levies,  to  whom  they  paid  vast  sums  of 


J        19a    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

money,  in  exchange  for  which  the  levies  did  nothing  and 
deserted  when  trouble  came  ;  I  am  therefore  working  on 
a  system  of  payment  by  results,  which  should  prove 
satisfactory.  We  have  not  armed  either  the  levies 
or  the  irregulars,  so  they  have  no  temptation  to  desert. 

"  In  conclusion  I  should  like  to  repeat  what  I  said 
earlier  in  my  letter,  that  a  great  deal  of  our  success  here 
has  been  due  to  the  demeanour  of  the  few  troops  under 
my  command.  The  general  appearance  and  behaviour  of 
the  N.C.O.'s  has  produced  a  most  favourable  impression 
on  the  Persians,  and  they  realize  that  the  British  soldier 
is  a  very  different  article  to  any  soldier  they  have  met 
before.  From  intercepted  letters  I  learn  that  Kuchik 
Khan  complains  that  he  finds  it  hard  to  work  up  any 
feeling  against  us,  as  we  do  nothing  to  arouse  the  resent- 
ment of  the  populace — he  wishes  we  would.'* 

The  following  is  a  note  recording  the  conversation 
between  myself  and  Cheliapin  at  Enzeli  on  June  28th  : 

"  Cheliapin  is  the  same  leader  who  presided  at  the 
meetings  at  Enzeli  in  February,  when  the  combined  com- 
mittees of  Bolsheviks  and  Jangalis  prevented  the  departure 
of  the  first  party  of  Dunsterforce  for  Baku.  Many  of  the 
delegates  are  quite  interesting  men  to  meet,  but  Cheliapin 
is  of  the  worst  type.  He  is  convinced  of  his  own  wisdom, 
but  he  is  thoroughly  stupid  and  has  very  little  education  ; 
he  is  dictatorial  in  his  manner,  talks  loudly  and  has  no 
desire  to  hear  the  other  side  of  the  question.  Like  many 
of  the  peasant  class  he  is  cunning  and  suspicious,  and  the 
absolute  honesty  of  my  arguments  and  intentions  only 
intensify  his  belief  in  my  treachery.  His  mental  attitude 
is  pugnacious  and  his  mouth  is  filled  with  all  the  well-worn 
tags  of  revolutionary  orators.  He  can  talk  for  hours  in 
a  rasping  and  unpleasant  voice,  but  is  quite  incapable  of 
making  a  single  original  remark. 


MiRZA  KucHiK  Khan  :  returned  to  civil  life 


TURKS,  INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS         191 

"  He  suspects  Great  Britain  of  having  taken  advantage 
of  Russia's  temporary  difficulties  to  seize  North  Persia, 
and  he  will  not  believe  me  when  I  explain  that  our  occupa- 
tion of  this  country  was  due  to  (a)  the  necessity  of  guarding 
our  right  flank  in  Mesopotamia,  (6)  the  desire  to  keep 
a  road  open  from  Baghdad  to  Baku  to  help  the  Caucasus. 

**  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  Cheliapin  is  an  honest 
patriot,  but  I  fancy  his  brother  revolutionaries  suspect 
him  of  feathering  his  nest 

"  Like  most  Russians  he  sees  a  deep  ulterior  motive  in 
any  action  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  credits  English- 
men with  a  Machiavellian  cleverness  that  is  quite  the 
opposite  of  the  English  character.  My  frank  statement 
to  him  that  we  took  no  side  in  the  revolution,  and  that 
we  came  to  the  Caucasus  only  to  help  the  people  to  keep 
out  the  Germans  and  Turks,  was  the  only  thing  that  made 
him  smile  during  the  whole  conversation.  He  certainly 
believes  that  we  want  to  capture  and  hold  for  all  time  the 
Baku  oilfields,  to  obtain  various  mineral  concessions  in 
the  Caucasus,  and  to  reinstate  the  Czar.  His  only  wise 
remark  (which  was  probably  not  original)  was,  '  Whether 
you  like  the  Bolsheviks  or  not,  you  make  a  great  mistake 
in  not  recognizing  them.  The  Germans  at  once  wisely 
recognized  the  Bolsheviks  and  then  attacked  them  ;  you 
refuse  to  recognize  them  and  yet  you  ofter  them  help.' 

"  The  only  change  his  attitude  had  undergone  since  our 
last  meeting  was  that  on  the  former  occasion  he  said, 
*  We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  Germans  now  that  peace 
has  been  declared  and  we  like  them  better  than  we  do 
you.'  He  now  says  :  *  Germany  has  betrayed  us,  and  we 
will  fight  agamst  the  Germans  to  the  last  drop  of  our  blood.' 
Of  the  Jangalis  he  used  to  say  :  *  They  are  good,  honest 
patriots  fighting,  like  us,  against  a  criminal  monarchy  for 
freedom  and  the  rights  of  man.'  He  now  says  :  *  The 
Jangalis  are  merely  highway  robbers  and  should  be 
exterminated,' 


192    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  The  term  *  Sovietsld  Vlast '  is  now  used  instead  of 
*  Bolsheviks.'  Sovietski  Vlast  means  the  power  of  councils. 
It  is  meant  to  include  the  revolutionaries  of  all  parties. 

"  The  Social  Revolutionary  party  (called  the  S.R.'s  for 
short)  are  a  party  of  growing  strength  who  will  probably 
oust  the  Sovietski  Vlast  in  a  short  time.  It  is  their  declared 
intention  to  do  so.  I  asked  Cheliapin  about  this  and  he 
said,  *  The  idea  is  absurd  ;  they  work  with  us  on  our  com- 
mittees, where  they  have  a  proportion  of  representative 
commissaries.'  This  sounds  very  well,  but  the  Baku  S.R.'s 
told  me  they  refused  to  accept  the  offer  and  had  refused 
to  appoint  any  commissaries  or  work  with  the  Sovietski 
Vlast. 

"  Cheliapin  wished  England  to  help  Baku  with  arms 
and  motor-cars  in  exchange  for  oil  and  petrol.  All 
offers  of  troops  or  military  instructors  were  out  of  the 
question. 

"  His  chief  argument  against  the  introduction  of  British 
troops  into  Baku  was  that  the  Germans  in  North  Russia 
would  at  once  retaliate  by  taking  Petrograd  and  Moscow. 
Finally  he  said,  *  It  is  no  use  you  and  I  talking,  we  should 
never  agree.  It  is  impossible  for  one  hke  me  who  knows 
what  freedom  means  to  talk  to  one  who  subjects  himself 
to  a  King  and  Crown  ! '  " 

To  show  the  sort  of  anti-British  propaganda  that  was 
being  worked  against  us  at  Baku  at  this  time  I  give  this 
interesting  extract  from  a  Baku  newspaper  dated  July 
16,  1918. 

"  The  English  in  Persia. 

"  When  the  question  of  the  occupation  of  North- Western 
Persia  was  decided  on  by  the  English  Imperialists  the  whole 
country,  the  entire  people,  who  are  generally  passive  and 
quiet,  were  filled  with  disgust. 

"  Their  helpless  cries  of  anguish,  horror  and  hate  must 


TURKS,   INFIDELS  AND  HERETICS         193 

have  reached  the  ears  of  the  Russian  slaves  of  English 
money,  but  their  ears  are  deaf  when  convenient. 

"  The  half-wild,  famished,  powerless  people  gathered 
into  bands  and  threw  themselves  at  every  car  or  cart 
that  they  suspected  to  be  carrying  English. 

*'  There  were  cases  of  murder. 

"  The  rebels  did  not  allow  cars  to  pass  if  Persian  silver 
was  found  on  the  passengers  in  large  quantities,  as  the 
only  source  of  this  silver  for  Persians  was  the  EngHsh 
Bank,  the  buying  and  bribing  capacity  of  which  is  well 
known  to  the  Persians. 

"  The  leaders  of  Persian  democrats  in  vain  tried  to  turn 
the  stream  of  popular  indignation  into  a  channel  of  fruitless 
protests. 

"  When  the  English  delegation  arrived  at  Enzeli  with 
General  Dunsterville  at  its  head  on  their  way  to  Tiflis  in 
order  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  the  Trans-Caucasian 
Government,  the  representatives  of  the  Persian  Social 
Democratic  Committee  held  guard  at  the  Russian  IVIihtary 
Revolutionary  Committee,  and  were  only  satisfied  when 
it  was  settled  that  General  Dunsterville  would  not  be 
allowed  to  pass  to  Tiflis  but  would  *  clear  off '  to  Mesopo- 
tamia. For  the  Persians  know  that  the  wheel  of  an 
EngUsh  Ford  is  more  destructive  than  the  hoof  of  the 
Hun's  horse. 

"  Between  Hamadan  and  Kasvin,  near  Ab-i-Garm,  the 
Persians  killed  the  passengers  of  a  Russian  lorry  and  a 
Ford,  in  all  ten  people,  suspecting  that  they  were  English. 

"  The  hostihty  of  the  Jangalis  to  the  Russian  troops 
arose  only  because  they  could  not  convince  the  latter  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  the  instruments  of  the  Imperialism 
of  the  EngHsh.  Even  after  his  defeat  by  Bicherakov,  with 
the  few  remnants  of  his  dispersed  force,  Kuchik  Khan  at- 
tacked convoys  and  is  still  attacking  English  Fords,  braving 
the  armoured  cars  and  machine-guns.  (During  one  of  the 
attacks  the  English  had  some  men  killed  and  wounded.) 

14 


194    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  Arrivals  from  Enzeli  say  that  Kuchik  Khan  has  again 
gathered  his  force,  and  with  new  vigour  has  commenced 
guerilla  warfare  against  the  English.  The  exploitation  of 
the  native  populations  in  the  English  colonies  and  occupied 
territories  where  they  find  no  resistance  is  being  carried 
on  in  the  most  shameless  manner,  and  the  natives  are 
treated  like  cattle. 

"  Our  soldiers  (from  Bicherakov*s  detachment)  who  were 
in  Mesopotamia  fighting  in  front  of  the  English  line  reaUzed 
very  well  the  EngHsh  tactics  *  Making  other  men  pull  the 
chestnuts  out  of  the  fire.'  If  the  EngUsh  get  you  you  become 
an  Indian  (native).     This  is  the  result  of  their  labours. 

"...  But  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  Russo-German 
peace  arrived  and  the  Russian  soldiers  voted  a  return  home, 
the  attitude  towards  them  changed  and  the  British  annoyed 
them  in  all  ways. 

"  The  wounded  and  sick  that  returned  from  Baghdad 
say  that  the  insults  became  intolerable  and  the  treatment 
from  the  doctors  was  disgusting. 

"  The  hero  of  R.  Kipling's  story  complains  that  since 
India  has  had  seK-government,  the  *  naukar '  does  not 
pronounce  the  word  *  Sahib '  with  sufficient  respect. 
General  Dunsterville,  Colonels  Rowlandson  and  Clutter - 
buck,  are  specialists  in  trading  in  live  stock  obtained 
from  Russian  Counter-revolutionaries,  and  may  they  be 
content.  The  figure  of  the  social  *  naukar '  is  already 
seen,  with  its  hand  to  its  forehead  humbly  murmuring 
'  Salaam  '.  .  ,  "    This  completes  the  effusion. 

The  sneer  at  the  Russian  Counter-revolutionaries  was 
of  course  meant  to  be  a  hit  at  my  Russian  officers.  The 
statements  about  the  feeling  of  Bicherakov's  men  towards 
the  British  force  in  Mesopotamia,  alongside  of  whom  they 
were  fighting,  are  entirely  untrue,  and  are  inserted  solely 
for  reasons  of  hate  propaganda.  The  real  feeling  was  one 
of  sincere  friendship. 


CHAPTER    XII 
IN    TOUCH    WITH    BAKU 

ON  July  14th  I  left  by  motor-car  with  Captain  Bray, 
and  arrived  at  the  Head  Quarters  of  the  14th  Division 
at  Mir j  ana,  400  miles  from  Kasvin,  on  the  evening  of 
July  17th,  continuing  my  journey  by  aeroplane  on  the 
next  day,  and  arriving  at  Baghdad  just  at  daybreak  on 
July  18th. 

We  were  glad  to  note  on  the  way  down  the  enormous 
improvement  in  the  road.  Work  is  being  seriously  under- 
taken on  the  whole  stretch  from  Kermanshah  to  Khanikin, 
and  it  now  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  snow-covered 
track  and  seas  of  mud  over  which  we  pushed  our  cars 
in  February. 

I  remained  at  General  Head  Quarters,  Baghdad,  for 
forty-eight  hours,  leaving  again  by  aeroplane  to  Qasr-i- 
Shirin,  106  miles,  on  July  20th,  and  thence  by  car  160 
miles,  reaching  Kermanshah  the  same  evening,  a  very 
good  day's  work.  On  July  22nd  I  inspected  Major 
Macarthy's  group  of  levies  near  Hamadan,  and  was 
extremely  pleased  with  their  progress.  They  were 
drawn  up  in  line,  with  the  cavalry  on  the  right  as  at 
an  inspection  of  regular  troops,  and  a  band  performed 
throughout  the  inspection  with  remarkable  rigour. 

On  July  23rd,  after  a  good  many  breakdowns  on  the 
road  due  to  bursting  of  tyres  and  engine  trouble,  we 
arrived  at  Kasvin,   having  been  absent  for  nine   days, 

105 


106    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

during  which  much  had  been  taking  place.  My  visit  to 
Baghdad,  which  was  very  necessary,  had  been  carried 
out  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  as  it  was  obvious  that  we 
were  now  on  the  verge  of  the  Baku  enterprise. 

At  Baghdad  I  had  been  able  to  discuss  many  minor 
but  important  points  as  well  as  the  major  points  of  Urumiah 
and  the  question  of  petrol  supply.  The  authorities  at 
first  were  horrified  at  my  suggestion  to  exchange  motor- 
cars for  petrol,  but  petrol  was  indispensable.  The  Baku 
people  would  give  it  on  no  other  terms,  and  the  purchas- 
ing price  was  extremely  favourable.  Mesopotamia  re- 
quired every  car  they  could  get,  but  the  small  number 
I  required  formed  a  hardly  appreciable  proportion  of 
the  available  supply,  and  my  demands  were  accordingly 
agreed  to. 

I  received  news  at  last  of  Bicherakov's  movements, 
which  I  was  sorry  to  hear  had  not  met  with  any  great 
measure  of  success.  Disembarking  his  force  at  Alyat  on 
July  5th,  he  had  hastened  forward  to  take  over  the  com- 
mand of  the  Baku  Red  Army  operating  astride  of  the 
Tiflis  railway  towards  the  bridge  at  Yeldakh  over  the 
Kura  River.  His  own  troops  were  hurried  up  to  stiffen 
the  Red  Army,  who  seemed  to  be  very  lacking  in  enter- 
prise, and  who  were  already  being  driven  back  by  the 
Turks.  All  hope  of  securing  the  bridge  had  gone  owing 
to  the  pusillanimous  behaviour  of  the  Baku  troops,  who 
had  allowed  the  Turks  to  possess  themselves  of  this  all- 
important  point  without  making  any  great  effort  to 
thwart  them. 

The  Caucasus-Islam  army  might  still  be  beaten  in  the 
field,  but  Bicherakov  soon  found  to  his  disgust  that  no 
reliance  at  all  could  be  placed  on  the  Red  Army  troops, 
who  frequently  gave  ground  without  firing  a  shot,  and 
his  own  men  were  all  that  he  could  count  on  for  any  real 
fighting.  Under  these  circumstances  there  was  nothing 
to  be  done  but  to  fall  back  on  Baku,  contesting  each  mile 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  197 

of  ground  and  delaying  th©  onemy  sufficiently  to  enabl* 
the  Baku  people  to  prepare  a  proper  line  of  defence 
covering  the  town,  a  precautionary  measure  which  they 
altogether  neglected.  As  an  example  of  the  behaviour 
of  the  Red  Army  troops  I  will  relate  an  incident  that 
resulted  in  the  loss  of  one  of  our  armoured  cars  at  this 
time. 

Bicherakov  ordered  a  reconnaissance  to  be  carried 
out  by  one  of  his  Cossack  squadrons  supported  by  a 
British  armoured  car.  The  party  passed  over  a  bridge 
which  was  held  by  a  strong  detachment  of  the  Red  Army, 
and  they  impressed  on  the  commander  of  this  detach- 
ment the  importance  of  his  post,  as  this  bridge  carried 
the  road  over  an  impassable  nullah  on  their  only  line 
of  withdrawal.  The  reconnoitring  party  carried  out 
their  duties  and  proceeded  to  withdraw.  On  arrival  at 
the  bridge  they  found  that  it  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Turks.  The  Cossack  cavalry  put  up  a  very  good  fight 
in  the  endeavour  to  regain  possession,  and  to  cover  the 
withdrawal  of  the  armoured  car,  but  the  effort  did  not 
succeed  ;  the  cavalry  suffered  very  heavy  losses,  and  the 
armoured  car  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  One  can- 
not help  smiling  at  the  idea  of  troops  in  action  leaving 
their  posts  to  attend  political  meetings,  but  these  comic 
incidents  have  tragic  endings,  and  in  this  case  the  amusing 
behaviour  of  the  Red  Army  soldiers  meant  the  lives  of 
many  brave  men  and  the  loss  of  the  armoured  car.  When 
freedom  is  carried  to  the  extent  of  permitting  men  to 
leave  their  military  duties  during  the  progress  of  an 
action,  war  becomes  impossible. 

This  is  the  first  example  of  such  failure  of  duty  recorded 
in  the  history  of  this  campaign,  but  it  will  not  be  the  last. 
We  soon  learnt  that  such  conduct  was  the  rule  and  not 
the  exception. 

Arising  from  such  behaviour  on  the  part  of  the  Red 
Army  soldiers  a  feeling  of  dislike  and  hostility  grew  up 


198    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

between  the  Cossacks  and  them,  which  ended  in  Bichera- 
kov  severing  his  connection  with  these  worthless  troops. 
Throughout  July  he  made  every  endeavour  to  stem  the 
Turkish  advance,  but  his  efforts,  unsupported  by  the 
local  troops,  were  in  vain. 

In  the  last  days  of  July  the  Red  Army  and  Bichera- 
kov's  force  were  driven  back  into  Baku,  and  the  Caucasus- 
Islam  army  may  be  said  to  have  practically  captured 
the  town  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  were  in  full  possession 
of  the  heights  above  it  and  within  3,000  yards  of  the 
wharves,  with  no  troops  opposing  them. 

But  at  this  moment  one  of  those  miracles  occurred 
which  seemed  so  frequently  to  intervene  to  defer  the 
actual  fall  of  Baku.  For  no  reason  that  can  yet  be  ascer- 
tained, the  Turks,  in  the  hour  of  their  victory,  were 
seized  with  an  unaccountable  panic  and  turned  and 
fled.  It  is  said  that  their  flight  was  due  to  a  rumour 
that  their  rear  was  being  threatened  by  a  large  cavalry 
force,  but  whatever  the  cause  may  have  been,  the  result 
was  that  the  entire  army  turned  and  ran,  hotly  pursued 
by  the  Armenian  troops,  who  returned  to  Baku,  proudly 
(but  falsely)  asserting  that  it  was  they  who  had  saved 
the  town. 

During  the  progress  of  this  fighting  Bicherakov  realized 
that  the  Red  Army  leaders  were  trying  to  force  him  into 
a  position  whence  retirement  would  be  impossible,  and 
where  it  was  equally  certain  that  in  the  hour  of  danger 
they  would  afford  him  no  support.  They  had  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  his  professions  of  Bolshevism  had  only 
been  a  pretence  to  enable  him  to  get  a  footing  in  the 
Caucasus  (which  was  a  very  right  conjecture),  and  that 
he  was  ready  to  turn  round  on  them  at  the  first  oppor- 
tunity. They  therefore  decided  to  forestall  this  move  by 
rounding  on  him  and  pushing  him  into  the  arms  of  the 
Turks. 

The  knowledge  of  this  intention  on  their  part  caused 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  199 

Bicherakov  to  separate  his  force  entirely  from  the  town 
troops,  and  to  draw  off  to  the  north  between  Baladjari 
Railway  Station  and  the  seacoast.  From  here  he  could 
again  join  in  the  fight  from  a  very  advantageous  point 
on  the  left  flank  of  the  Turks,  if  the  town  did  not  fall ; 
and  if  the  town  fell,  he  had  a  good  line  of  retreat  up  the 
railway  to  Derbend,  where  he  would  be  sure  of  water 
and  supplies.  His  position  had  been  rendered  extremely 
critical  during  the  last  few  days,  owing  to  the  failure  of 
the  Baku  Committee  to  meet  any  of  his  demands  for 
ammunition  or  supplies  ;  and  signs  of  a  Turkish  movement 
towards  the  railway  line  on  his  right  eventually  led  him 
to  decide  on  severing  his  connection  with  Baku  and 
continuing  his  retreat  to  Derbend.  The  Baku  people 
regarded  this  as  a  betrayal,  and  Bicherakov  as  a  traitor  ; 
but  we  ourselves  found  later  what  impossible  people  they 
were  to  deal  with,  and  had  equally  to  withdraw  our  troops 
to  save  them  from  being  needlessly  sacrificed. 

At  the  same  time,  this  move  of  his  at  this  juncture  was 
a  fatal  mistake.  In  war  time  a  commander  has  to  form 
rapid  decisions  and  adhere  to  them.  The  decision  formed 
may  be  absolutely  right  in  view  of  the  known  factors, 
but  after  action  has  been  commenced  an  unforeseen  factor 
appears  that  indicates  quite  another  line.  Bicherakov 
was  right  to  consider  the  town  as  already  in  the  hands 
of  the  Turks,  and  this  would  compel  his  immediate  with- 
drawal, so  he  accordingly  acted  in  the  light  of  this  assump- 
tion. But,  as  I  have  described  above,  the  town  did 
not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  and,  had  the  "  par- 
tisan "  detachment  remained  in  position  north  of  Baku 
and  joined  hands  with  us  a  few  days  later,  Baku  would 
never  have  fallen.  All  we  required  later,  and  entirely 
failed  to  get,  was  some  sort  of  stiffening  for  the  local 
troops,  some  formed  body  of  regular  soldiers  who  could 
set  the  right  example  and  help  us  to  force  reluctant 
troops  into  the  firing  line. 


200    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Another  fatal  mistake  which  was  also  made  at  this 
time  by  the  town  troops  affords  an  example  of  the  futility 
of  entrusting  military  operations  to  men  who  have  not 
been  trained  to  think  on  military  lines.  The  strategy 
of  Baku  was  directed  not  by  the  so-called  military  authori- 
ties, but  by  the  tinkers  and  tailors  who  formed  the  govern- 
ing committee.  The  lack  of  forethought  on  their  part, 
and  the  lack  of  cohesion  on  the  part  of  the  troops,  robbed 
Baku  of  the  fruits  of  the  mairaculous  victory  over  the 
Turks.  The  brave  troops  returning  to  town  to  loll  in 
restaurants  and  recount  to  their  admiring  women-folk  the 
deeds  of  valour  they  had  accomplished  in  defeating  and 
pursuing  the  Turks  would  have  been  better  employed 
had  they  just  carried  the  pursuit  a  few  yards  further, 
driven  the  Turk  off  the  high  ground  west  of  the  railway 
line  and  dug  themselves  in.  Preferring,  however,  to 
return  to  the  ease  and  comforts  of  the  town,  they  left 
this  position  to  the  Turks,  and  thereby  rendered  any 
further  defence  of  Baku  merely  a  deferring  of  the  evil 
moment.  The  Turks  held  this  position  throughout  the 
remainder  of  the  fighting,  and,  Avith  troops  that  hardly 
knew  how  to  march  and  obeyed  no  orders,  it  was 
impossible  to  attempt  to  dislodge  them. 

In  describing  Bicherakov's  movements  in  the  course 
of  the  fighting  round  Baku  up  to  this  point  I  have  got 
beyond  the  date  of  the  general  narrative,  but  when  we 
come  to  the  history  of  our  action  in  Baku,  a  knowledge 
of  these  earlier  events  will  be  necessary,  and  it  will  make 
it  clearer  for  the  ordinary  reader  if  I  finish  the  story  of 
Bicherakov's  troubles  straight  away,  as  I  have  done  in 
the  preceding  paragraphs,  instead  of  cutting  it  up  into 
fragments  to  secure  an  actual  sequence  of  dates. 

We  must  now  get  back  to  Kasvin  and  follow  the  moves 
of  our  own  force  until  they  lead  us  finally  to  Baku. 

In  the  middle  of  July  the  first  detachments  of  the 
39th  Brigade  began  to  arrive  in  Kasvin.    They  travelled 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  201 

from  Mesopotamia  in  motor-lorries  as  far  as  Hamadan, 
and  thence  motored  or  marched,  according  to  whether 
vehicles  were  obtainable  or  not,  to  Enzeli.  The  greater 
portion  did  not  arrive  in  the  latter  port,  however,  till 
late  in  August.  The  Ford  cars  were  in  a  terrible  state, 
and  at  that  moment,  when  every  hour  was  of  value, 
everything  seemed  to  break  down,  and  I  was  never  able 
to  get  any  of  the  detachm^ents  to  any  destination  within 
a  liberally  estimated  limit  of  time. 

The  Jangalis  had  decided  about  this  time  to  test  the 
mettle  of  the  British  troops,  who,  their  German  instruc- 
tors informed  them,  were  notoriously  cowardly.  In  the 
one  or  two  small  encounters  we  had  already  had  the 
Jangalis  had  had  reason  to  wonder  if  the  German  estimate 
of  the  British  soldier's  fighting  powers  was  quite  accurate, 
but  still,  on  the  whole,  they  felt  that  it  was  worth  while 
having  at  least  one  grand  attack  on  the  British  just  to 
see  what  would  happen. 

In  fighting  irregular  troops  like  the  Jangalis  it  is  as 
a  rule  hard  to  get  them  to  concentrate  and  attack,  and 
unless  they  can  be  induced  to  do  this  it  is  difficult  to 
bring  matters  to  a  conclusion,  and  these  small  campaigns 
drag  on  and  on  interminably.  We  have  therefore  to 
thank  their  German  commander,  von  Passchen,  very 
much  for  his  success  in  bringing  about  the  great  Battle 
of  Resht,  which  settled  the  Jangali  question  once  and 
for  all,  and  enabled  us  to  make  a  sound  treaty  of  peace 
with  Kuchik  Khan,  and  to  secure  the  release  of  Captain 
Noel,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  for  over  four  months  in 
their  hands. 

At  daybreak  on  July  20th  a  determined  attack  on 
the  garrison  and  town  of  Resht  was  launched  by  the  Jangali 
troops  from  the  west  and  south-west.  The  enemy  was 
obviously  determined  to  put  matters  to  the  supreme 
test  by  attacking  the  British  detachment  under  Colonel 
Matthews,  which  was  billeted  outside  the  southern  out- 


202    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

skirts  of  the  town  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Russian  Consulate. 
In  taking  this  action  the  Jangalis  were  guided  by  the 
soundest  principle  of  war,  namely,  to  attack  and  defeat 
the  enemy's  main  force  in  the  field.  Such  action  is, 
how^ever,  quite  contrary  to  the  tactics  of  irregular  troops 
such  as  these,  and  must  naturally  be  attributed  to  the 
leadership  of  von  Passchen.  The  entire  town  was  at 
their  mercy,  and  the  more  usual  procedure  would  have 
been  for  them  to  seize  and  hold  the  town  itself,  whence 
we  should  have  had  great  difficulty  in  dislodging  them, 
once  they  had  secured  a  firm  footing.  Their  present 
plan  was  to  combine  the  two  operations,  and,  while  their 
best  fighting  men  attacked  and  destroyed  our  detach- 
ment (which  numbered  about  450  rifles  of  the  l/4  Hants 
1/2  Gurkhas,  with  two  mountain  guns  and  two  armoured 
cars),  the  remaining  portion  were  to  attack  and  loot  the 
town.  The  troops  allotted  to  the  town  attack  achieved 
an  easy  success,  the  defence  of  a  town  with  a  7 -mile 
perimeter  being,  as  I  have  previously  pointed  out,  quite 
beyond  the  power  of  our  small  detachment ;  but  the  defeat 
of  their  main  attack  on  our  troops  outside  the  town,  and 
the  heavy  casualties  they  suffered  in  the  attempt,  reacted 
on  the  invaders  of  the  town  and  caused  them  to  put  up 
only  a  very  half-hearted  resistance  when  we  had  leisure 
to  set  to  work  to  clear  them  out. 

While  the  fighting  was  going  on  between  our  troops 
and  the  pick  of  the  Jangali  army  on  the  southern  outskirts, 
a  large  body  of  the  enemy  penetrated  to  the  heart  of  the 
town  and  attacked  the  British  Consulate,  which  was 
defended  by  a  garrison  of  about  twenty  rifles  all  told. 
The  unfortunate  position  of  this  building  has  already 
been  commented  on  ;  it  was  surrounded  by  houses  which 
overlooked  it  and  from  which  the  enemy  snipers  could 
fire  direct  into  the  courtyard,  and  reinforcements  could 
only  reach  it  directly  by  passing  through  a  maze  of  narrow 
and  tortuous  streets.    The  normal  method  of  reaching 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  208 

the  Consulate  from  the  billets  of  our  detachment  on  the 
south  was  to  proceed  north  along  the  Enzeli  road  for 
2J  miles,  then  west  by  the  circular  road  outside  the 
town  for  1|  miles  till  the  Pir-i-Bazar  road  was  reached, 
and  then  south  into  the  centre  of  the  town,  thus 
compassing  three-quarters  of  the  perimeter. 

At  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  Colonel  Matthews 
was  notified  of  the  perilous  position  of  the  party  in  the 
British  Consulate,  and  determined  to  effect  their  rescue 
by  the  direct  road  that  lay  through  the  narrow  streets 
of  the  town.  It  was  fortunate  that  these  streets  were 
just  wide  enough  to  admit  the  passage  of  an  armoured 
car,  if  cleverly  steered,  and  the  relieving  party,  accom- 
panied by  an  armoured  car,  succeeded  after  severe 
street-fighting  in  reaching  the  Consulate  just  in  time 
and  bringing  off  Mr.  Moir  and  the  garrison. 

The  relief  was  effected  just  as  the  enemy  had  succeeded 
in  setting  fire  to  the  outer  doors  of  the  courtyard,  and 
in  a  short  time  the  Consulate  would  have  fallen  and  its 
occupants  would  certainly  have  been  massacred.  This 
highly  successful  task  was  carried  out  under  the  command 
of  Captain  McCleverty,  of  the  1  /2  Gurkhas,  who  conducted 
the  operation  with  great  skill. 

Repeated  attacks  on  our  main  body  were  successfully 
beaten  off,  and  the  Jangalis  eventually  drew  off  in  despair, 
having  found  the  British  garrison  to  be  made  of  very 
different  stuff  from  that  which  von  Passchen  had  described. 
Kuchik  Khan  had  had  about  2,500  men  engaged,  and 
when  they  eventually  broke  off  the  engagement  they 
left  over  100  dead  on  the  ground,  and  fifty  prisoners 
in  our  hands,  the  latter  including  several  Austrians. 
Our  casualties  all  told  amounted  to  only  fifty,  and  the 
fighting  resulted  in  a  victory  for  our  troops  that  would 
have  been  even  more  signal  had  it  been  possible  to  crown 
it  with  a  pursuit.  The  small  number  of  our  troops,  the 
nature  of  the  surrounding  country,   and  the  fact  that 


204    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

the  Jangalis  were  still  in  possession  of  the  town,  prohibited 
any  attempt  at  pursuit,  and  as  the  sun  set  the  firing 
entirely  ceased,  and  the  main  attack  was  withdrawn  ; 
but  the  actual  town  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

The  operations  during  the  next  two  days  consisted 
of  getting  the  Jangalis  out  of  the  town.  This  involved 
a  good  deal  of  street-fighting,  but  success  was  mainly 
achieved  by  aeroplane  bombing,  which  soon  rendered 
their  retention  of  the  various  hotels  and  public  buildings 
impracticable. 

By  the  end  of  the  month  Resht  was  finally  cleared 
of  all  signs  of  active  Jangali  opposition,  and  came  under 
our  effective  administration.  A  military  governor  was 
appointed  in  place  of  the  Persian  Governor,  who  had 
fled  from  his  unpleasant  post,  and  an  excellent  intelli- 
gence office  got  to  work  under  Captain  Searight,  of  the 
Queen's  Regiment,  who  vied  with  Major  Saunders  in 
the  cleverness  and  efficiency  of  his  measures.  We  had 
thus  finally  secured  the  road  to  the  Caspian,  five  months 
after  our  first  hazardous  passage  in  the  middle  of  February. 
Kermanshah,  Hamadan,  Kasvin,  Menjil  and  Resht  were 
in  our  hands,  and  it  only  remained  to  secure  the  actual 
port  of  Kazian  (Enzeli)  itself. 

The  road  picquets  were  kept  out  for  some  time  longer 
as  a  precautionary  measure,  but  no  further  fighting  took 
place,  and  Mirza  Kuchik  Khan,  now  reduced  to  a  sensible 
frame  of  mind,  began  to  sue  for  peace. 

To  return  to  Kasvin,  there  was  much  important  work 
to  be  attended  to  in  that  rather  troublesome  town,  while 
we  awaited  the  longed-for  summons  from  Baku.  Major 
Browne,  of  the  44th  Indian  Infantry,  was  proving  a  very 
capable  commander  at  Enzeli,  and  was  working  hard  to 
clear  away  the  Red  Army  obstruction  in  the  port.  He 
had  some  rather  delicate  negotiations  in  hand  at  this 
time  bearing  on  this  point,  and  it  was  very  necessary  to 
get  the  obnoxious   revolutionary  Committee  out  of  the 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  205 

way  for  a  time.  They  were  accordingly  invited  to  visit 
me  in  Kasvin  to  discuss  some  important  secret  matters 
connected  with  the  question  of  exchange  of  motor-cars 
for  petrol  and  other  kindred  subjects. 

I  am  glad  to  say  they  accepted  the  invitation  with- 
out our  having  to  apply  any  pressure,  and  Comrade 
Cheliapin  with  his  following  duly  presented  themselves  at 
my  Head  Quarters — a  very  meek-looking  trio  compared 
to  the  fierce  and  uncompromising  individuals  of  earlier 
days.  They  had  an  uncomfortable  feeling  that  their 
reign  at  Kazian  would  soon  be  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
their  forebodings  were  very  shortly  to  be  realized. 

They  stayed  two  days  with  me  in  Kasvin,  which  was 
just  long  enough  to  enable  Major  Browne  to  carry  out 
what  was  necessary  at  his  end  of  the  line  ;  they  lunched 
with  me  and  we  drank  each  others'  healths  in  very  cheer- 
ful mood.  We  had  had  so  much  to  do  with  each  other 
since  the  hazardous  days  of  February  that  our  common 
reminiscences  almost  induced  a  feeling  of  friendship. 

What  we  were  trying  to  get  at  was  the  exact  nature 
of  their  relations  with  Kuchik  Khan.  We  knew  that  at 
the  time  of  our  first  visit  to  Enzeli  they  were  hand-in - 
glove  with  him,  but  they  had  latterly  pretended  that  that 
was  merely  owing  to  force  of  circumstances,  and  Cheliapin 
had  solemnly  promised  me  that  they  had  now  broken  off 
all  relations  with  the  Jangalis. 

To  have  arrested  the  Committee  merely  as  Bolsheviks 
would  have  been  taking  a  false  step,  and  would  have 
put  the  whole  of  Baku  against  us.  It  is  obvious  that  to 
a  revolutionary  there  can  be  no  worse  a  person  than  a 
counter-revolutionary ;  we  were  already  suspected  of 
the  latter  tendencies,  and  if  we  had  adopted  any  course 
of  action  tending  to  justify  the  accusation,  we  should 
never  have  been  able  to  acquire  any  influence  in  Baku. 
There  was  to  be  only  one  plank  in  our  platform  there, 
and  that  was  absolute  non-interference  with  the  purely 


206    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

internal  affaire  of  the  revolutionaries.  The  only  safe 
grounds,  therefore,  on  which  we  could  attack  the  Enzeli 
Committee  were  on  a  charge  of  complicity  with  our 
declared  enemies,  the  Jangalis. 

On  his  departure  from  Kasvin  Comrade  Cheliapin 
very  naively  gave  himself  away  by  refusing  an  escort, 
and  saying,  "  Oh,  they  won't  touch  us,  I  am  sure.  I  shall 
fly  a  white  flag  on  the  bonnet  of  the  car,  and  they  will 
let  us  through  all  right."  This  made  it  quite  certain 
that  they  were  in  friendly  communication  with  the 
Jangalis,  and  it  only  remained  to  procure  proof  of 
this  to  justify  us  in  carrying  out  the  arrest,  which  we 
did  a  few  days  later  in  circumstances  shortly  to  be 
described. 

General  Baratov  was  still  in  Kasvin  presiding  over 
a  Committee  which  was  making  most  praiseworthy 
endeavours  to  settle  the  Persian  requisition  claims, 
without  being  in  possession  of  the  necessary  funds 
for  the  purpose — a  somewhat  difficult  task. 

He  had  received  an  invitation  from  the  British  authori- 
ties to  visit  India,  at  which  he  was  most  gratified,  and  he 
intended  proceeding  shortly  to  Baghdad  in  order  to 
avail  himself  of  this  courtesy.  His  position  in  Persia,  as 
a  General  without  an  army,  was  an  absurd  one,  and  a 
return  to  his  own  country  was  impossible,  as  a  price 
>had  been  put  on  his  head  by  the  revolutionaries.  I 
had  taken  a  great  liking  to  him,  and  felt  that  I  should 
miss  his  genial  companionship.  He  certainly  deserves 
all  praise  for  his  assiduity  in  pressing  the  rather  far- 
fetched claims  of  Russia  on  the  British  Government.  I 
have  never  met  a  more  "  importunate  widow."  I  had 
frequently  to  tell  him  that  the  only  blot  in  our  friendship 
was  his  horrible  little  pocket-book  in  which  he  kept  notes 
of  the  various  points  for  discussion  with  me.  My  heart 
literally  sank  within  me  whenever  I  saw  this  book  pro- 
duced ;   I  knew  I  was  in  for  a  discussion  on  at  least  six 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  207 

points,  with  half  an  hour  devoted  to  each,  provided  my 
time  and  patience  were  equal  to  his  demands. 

I  must  record  here  the  agreement  made  between 
ourselves  and  the  Russian  Road  Company  to  take  over 
temporarily  all  their  property  and  interests  in  the  road 
from  Hamadan  to  Enzeli  and  from  Teheran  to  Kasvin. 
The  road  had  been  constructed  by  a  private  Russian 
company,  and  was  worked  as  a  concession  under  the 
Persian  Government.  Post-houses  were  built  at  con- 
venient intervals,  and  tollgates  at  every  30  miles.  A 
telegraph  and  telephone  line  followed  the  380  miles  of 
road,  the  latter  having  instruments  in  every  toUgate 
house.  The  acquisition  of  this  property  with  the  tele- 
phone rights  was  most  valuable  to  us,  and  the  agreement 
was  an  excellent  one  from  a  financial  point  of  view.  The 
sum  we  paid  monthly  was  less  than  it  would  have  cost 
us  to  carry  out  the  repairs  to  the  road,  and  for  this  sum 
we  not  only  got  a  certain  amount  of  indispensable  repairs, 
but  the  general  control  of  the  whole  road,  buildings 
and  telephones.  The  company  was  glad  to  have  the 
money  for  payment  of  salaries,  but  their  real  gain  was 
that  by  our  taking  over  the  road  the  revolutionaries 
were  prevented  from  "  nationalizing "  the  company, 
which  would  spell  ruin  to  the  shareholders  and  the  working 
staff  of  engineers. 

On  July  26th,  just  in  the  middle  of  the  Caucasus- 
Baku  fighting  which  I  have  described,  in  which  Bicherakov 
was  being  driven  back  into  the  town,  the  long-expected 
coup  d'etat  took  place  at  Baku,  the  Bolshevik  Govern- 
ment were  thrown  out,  and  replaced  by  a  new  body  calling 
themselves  the  Central- Caspian  Dictatorship.  Shaumian 
and  Petrov,  the  two  leaders  of  the  Bolshevik  party,  deter- 
mined to  leave  the  town  with  their  followers  and  transfer 
themselves  by  sea  to  Astrakhan,  which  was  now  the  sole 
remaining  stronghold  of  the  Bolsheviks  on  the  Caspian 
Sea.    They  accordingly  seized  thirteen  ships,  in  which 


208    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

they  embarked  the  greater  part  of  the  Red  Army,  and 
also  loaded  them  up  with  the  entire  contents  of  the  arsenal 
and  all  the  war  material  on  which  they  could  lay  their 
hands.  Had  the  new  Government  permitted  the  depar- 
ture of  these  ships  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
continue  the  defence  of  Baku  another  day,  but  luckily 
the  little  navy  was  on  their  side,  and  the  Dictators  rather 
hesitatingly  ordered  the  recall  of  the  ships  ;  the  gun- 
boats pursued,  and  the  whole  convoy  was  brought  back 
into  harbour  and  kept  at  anchor  while  the  usual  intermin- 
able discussions  took  place.  The  recapture  of  this  convoy 
is  the  solitary  instance  in  our  experience  of  Baku  of 
direct  decisive  action  being  immediately  decided  on  and 
carried  into  effect.  The  moment  the  great  feat  was 
accomplished  the  new  Government  were  so  out  of  breath 
at  the  rapidity  and  success  of  their  action,  that  they  very 
nearly  spoilt  it  all  by  allowing  themselves  to  be  drawn 
into  a  week's  discussion  with  Shaumian  and  Petrov  that 
might  have  ended  disastrously,  had  we  not  appeared  on 
the  scene  and  given  them  the  heart  to  proceed  with  their 
good  work. 

^he  new  Government  had  no  sooner  taken  up  the 
reins  than,  according  to  our  pre-arranged  plan,  they  sent 
messengers  to  us  asking  for  help.  Although  troops  were 
not  even  yet  immediately  available,  except  in  the  form 
of  very  small  detachments,  I  decided  to  accept  the  in- 
vitation, and  dispatched  Colonel  Stokes  with  a  small 
party  of  the  1  /4  Hants  to  announce  our  impending  arrival. 
He  reached  the  town  on  a  very  critical  date,  August  4th, 
on  the  eve  of  a  determined  attack  by  the  Turks.  Although 
the  townspeople  were  bitterly  disappointed  at  the  arrival 
of  only  one  or  two  officers  and  a  handful  of  men,  where 
their  uncontrolled  imaginations  had  led  them  to  expect 
ship  after  ship  pouring  out  British  soldiers  on  to  the  quay, 
yet  the  mere  sight  of  these  fine-looking  soldiers  inspired 
them  to  that  extent  that,  when  the  Turkish  attack  took 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  309 

place  on  the  following  day,  every  man  in  the  town  seized 
his  rifle  and  rushed  to  reinforce  the  firing  line,  with  the 
result  that  the  Turks  were  thrown  back  in  confusion. 
This  evidence  of  a  fine  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  towns- 
people led  us  to  hope  for  much  later  on,  but  it  was  the 
solitary  instance  of  such  valour,  and  hopes  based  on  it 
were  doomed  to  bitter  disappointment. 

Troops  now  began  to  arrive  in  small  detachments 
as  motor-cars  could  be  found  available  to  transport  them 
to  Enzeli,  and  I  sent  over  Colonel  R,  Keyworth,  of  the 
R.F.A.,  with  an  improvised  staff  to  command  the  fighting 
troops  in  Baku. 

On  August  4th  I  moved  my  Head  Quarters  from  Kasvin 
to  Kazian,  taking  up  my  residence  as  before  in  the  Fishery 
Depot.  On  our  way  down  we  stopped  the  night  as  usual 
at  the  little  post-house  in  Menjil,  where  we  met  a  very 
mournful  trio  coming  up  from  Enzeli  to  Kasvin  in  custody. 
These  were  no  others  than  Cheliapin,  Lazarev  and 
Babookh.  They  asked  to  see  me,  and  I  at  once  went  to 
have  a  talk  with  them  and  find  out  what  it  was  aU  about. 
According  to  their  own  account  it  was  all  a  silly  mistake  ; 
I  informed  them  that  if  that  were  so  they  would  at  once 
be  released  with  apologies  when  their  case  had  been 
inquired  into.  According  to  the  account  of  the  officer 
in  charge  of  them  they  were  accused  of  complicity  with 
the  Jangalis,  and  we  had  documentary  evidence  of  their 
guilt  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  from  Babookh  to  Kuchik 
Khan  congratulating  him  on  his  recent  efforts  to  destroy 
the  British  detachment  at  Resht,  and  urging  him  to  renew 
his  efforts,  while  promising  all  support  in  his  future 
attempts.  This  letter  was  actually  handed  to  me  on 
my  arrival  at  Kazian,  and  left  no  doubt  whatsoever  as 
to  their  guilt. 

As  soon  as  he  had  ascertained  the  undounted  genuine- 
ness of  this  letter.  Major  Browne  had  decided  to  seize 
,the  opportunity  of  getting  rid  of  the  Enzeli  Committee, 

15 


210    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

who  had  now  become  an  anachronism.  The  three 
conspirators  were  arrested  (on  a  charge  of  having  dealings 
with  our  enemies)  at  the  hour  of  their  afternoon  siesta, 
and  as  soon  as  they  had  had  time  to  arrange  their  gar- 
ments and  put  their  belongings  together  they  were  offered 
seats  in  a  Ford  car  and  started  on  the  road  to  Kasvin. 

They  were  apparently  quite  unlamented,  their  sudden 
disappearance  caused  no  stir  in  the  town,  and  even  their 
own  followers  evinced  no  interest  in  their  arrest  and 
deportation.  Every  one  seemed  to  be  glad  to  be  rid  of 
them,  and  Kazian  heaved  a  deep  sigh  of  relief,  which 
shows  how  sadly  one's  best  efforts  often  fail  to  secure 
genuine  appreciation.  Kazian  port  is  a  Russian  con- 
cession forming  part  of  the  road  concession,  and  the 
Fisheries  were  another  concession.  Both  of  these 
bodies  were  on  the  point  of  being  "  nationalized  "  by 
Cheliapin  and  Company,  and  our  prompt  action  just 
saved  them  from  this  dismal  fate. 

The  first  thing  to  do  at  Kazian  was  to  secure  per- 
manently sufficient  shipping  to  enable  me  to  withdraw 
the  troops  from  Baku  in  case  of  necessity.  For  this  pur- 
pose I  selected  a  fine  vessel  of  over  a  thousand  tons, 
with  the  ominous  name  of  the  President  Krilger,  while 
Stokes  in  Baku  managed  to  secure  two  good  ships,  the 
Kursk,  and  the  Abo.  These  ships  we  managed  to  hold 
until  the  fatal  day  when  their  services  were  required. 
I  need  not  enter  into  details  as  to  how  we  secured  three 
of  the  best  ships  on  the  Caspian  ;  we  should  never  have 
been  allowed  to  retain  them  had  the  Centro- Caspian 
Dictatorate  suspected  our  intentions  as  to  their  ultimate 
use.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  every  now  and  then  a 
member  of  the  Government  did  appear  to  smell  a  rat, 
and  several  attempts  were  made  to  persuade  us  to  give 
them  up,  but  we  always  succeeded  in  holding  on  to  them. 

I  lay  particular  stress  on  this  acquisition  of  the  ships 
because  it  is  a  point  on  which  there  has  been  the  most 


I 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  211 

unaccountable  misunderstanding.  I  read,  for  instance, 
in  the  newspapers  at  the  time  of  our  evacuation  from 
Baku  a  surmise  to  the  effect  that  the  Russians  must 
have  relented  and  kindly  given  us  ships  at  the  last 
moment,  whereas  it  will  be  seen  in  the  last  chapter  of 
this  book  that  the  exact  contrary  was  the  case. 

The  Kriiger  was  a  fine  ship  and  as  fast  as  anything 
on  the  Caspian,  with  the  exception  of  the  gunboats,  and 
she  had  accommodation  sufficient  for  my  staff,  the  clerks, 
and  the  office,  as  well  as  about  300  men  normally  ;  at  a 
pinch  she  could  carry  800  men  by  utilizing  all  deck  space. 
We  rigged  up  a  pack  wireless  set  which  had  sufficient 
range  to  keep  me  in  touch  when  at  sea  with  either  Baku 
or  Enzeli,  in  both  of  which  ports  the  Russians  had  very 
powerful  wireless  installations. 

Having  cleared  the  atmosphere  by  the  removal  of 
the  obstructive  Committee,  our  next  step  was  to  acquire 
control  of  the  port.  In  each  successive  step  of  these 
transactions  I  was  urged  to  use  military  force ;  but  realizing 
that  that  would  be  a  fatal  error,  I  managed  to  secure 
all  that  we  required  by  means  of  peaceful  negotiations. 

The  key  to  the  Caspian  problem  was  the  little  fleet, 
who  were  now  acting  loyally  with  us  and  with  the  new 
Government.  At  the  same  time  it  was  obvious  that  they 
had  their  suspicions  of  "  perfide  Albion,'*  and  any  overt 
act  of  aggression  on  our  part,  such  as  the  arrest  of  the 
Committee  on  grounds  other  than  those  on  which  we  had 
fortunately  been  able  to  act,  or  the  acquisition  of  the 
port  by  a  display  of  armed  force,  would  have  been  too 
flagrant  a  display  of  the  "  mailed  fist  "  which  we  were 
not  strong  enough  to  live  up  to,  and  which  would  at  once 
have  turned  the  feelings  of  the  fleet  and  of  the  Baku 
people  against  us.  Moreover,  although  we  had  a  very 
efficient  staff  from  the  Royal  Navy,  with  some  160  naval 
ratings,  we  could  never  have  run  the  port  otherwise  than 
by  being  on  friendly  terms  with  the  local  authorities  and 


212    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

staff.  For  instance,  the  keeping  open  of  the  harbour  is 
entirely  dependent  on  the  efforts  of  a  single  dredger. 
If  the  harbour  staff  were  hostilely  inclined  to  us,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  something  would  have  happened  to  that 
dredger,  and  the  harbour  would  have  been  useless. 

I  therefore  dealt  with  the  matter  of  the  port  on  a 
purely  business  basis.  The  income  had  sunk  to  almost 
nothing  owing  to  the  fact  that  everything  (except,  so  far, 
the  port  itself)  had  been  "  nationalized."  All  shipping 
on  the  Caspian  had  been  "  nationalized,"  and  conse- 
quently paid  no  dues.  This  put  the  port  authorities  in 
a  very  difficult  situation.  We  drew  up  a  very  satisfactory 
agreement,  under  the  guidance  of  Commodore  Norris, 
by  which  we  guaranteed  all  salaries  and  port  expenses, 
and  claimed  in  return  any  sources  of  income. 

This  agreement  was  never  ratified  by  the  Centro- 
Caspian  Government,  and  the  documents  connected  with 
it  continued  to  pass  to  and  fro  between  them  and  us 
up  to  the  time  of  the  fall  of  Baku  ;  but  we  had  got  to 
understand  revolutionary  procedure,  and  regarded  this 
delay  in  ratification  as  quite  unimportant.  Revolution- 
aries revel  in  writing  and  talking,  all  crises  are  met  by 
passing  resolutions,  or  haranguing  uninterested  crowds, 
so  it  was  obvious  that  if  we  neither  talked  nor  wrote, 
but  acted,  we  should  probably  get  all  we  wanted.  Acting 
on  these  lines,  we  proceeded  to  put  the  agreement  into 
force  on  the  day  the  port  authorities  signified  their  assent. 
We  installed  an  embarkation  commandant,  and  in  a  few 
days  Enzeli  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  an  English 
port,  and  has  since  remained  so. 

By  this  I  must  not  be  understood  to  mean  that  the 
British  Government  had  any  desire  at  all  to  acquire  any 
sort  of  permanent  rights  in  this  neighbourhood,  either 
with  reference  to  the  port  or  anything  else  ;  the  agree- 
ment was  to  last  only  for  the  duration  of  hostilities. 

We  were  not  allowed  to  imagine  that  our  reception 


I 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  213 

in  Baku  would  be  entirely  friendly.  This  extract  from 
one  of  the  Baku  newspapers  will  prove  interesting  as 
showing  the  nature  of  the  propaganda  that  was  being 
worked  against  us  at  this  time.  The  mere  title  of  the 
paper  is  another  indication  of  the  lack  of  brevity  that 
characterizes  revolutionaries. 

"  The  News  of  the  Council  of  Workmen,  Red  Army, 
Sailors,  and  Peasant  Deputies  of  the  Baku 
Area. 

"  Comrades,  workmen,  sailors,  Red  Army,  and  all 
citizens  of  Baku  !  The  agents  of  the  English  Im- 
perialists are  carrying  on  counter-revolutionary  work ; 
they  sow  discord  among  you,  they  intend  to  put  up  the 
sailors  against  the  workmen^  the  workmen  against  the 
revolutionary  Government. 

"  We  have  news  that  the  English  Capitalists  have  con- 
cluded a  close  agreement  with  our  local  counter-revolu- 
tionaries. They  wish  to  destroy  our  power  and  put  up 
in  its  place  the  power  of  the  English  and  the  Bourgeois. 

"  The  Bourgeois  and  their  despicable  dependents  are 
in  favour  of  the  English.  The  Workmen  and  Sailors  are 
in  favour  of  the  Russian  Revolution. 

"  The  Bourgeois  and  their  dependents  are  in  favour  of 
cutting  adrift  from  Russia.  The  Workmen  and  Sailors 
are  in  favour  of  the  unity  of  the  Russian  Socialist  Federalist 
Republic. 

"  The  Bourgeois,  pledged  to  the  English,  bartered 
souls,  pitiful  cowards,  and  all  counter-revolutionaries, 
are  in  favour  of  cutting  adrift  from  Russia,  for  English 
might,  for  a  new  war  with  Germany.  They  are  against 
the  independence  of  Russia  ! 

"  Away  with  the  English  Imperialists  I 
Away  with  their  paid  agents  ! 
Away  with  the  Bourgeois  Counter-revolutionaries ! 


214    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Hurrah  for  the  Peoples  Committees  ! 

Hurrah  for  independent  Russia  ! 

Hurrah  for  Russian  Social  Revolution  ! 

What  can  the  English  give  you  ?     Nothing  ! 

What  can  they  take  from  you  ?     Everything  ! 

Away  with  the  English  Imperialists  ! 

All  to  the  front !  to  arms  !  All  to  the  saving  of  Baku  !  " 

The  days  at  Kazian  were  very  busy,  getting  in  the 
small  detachments  of  the  39th  Brigade  and  embarking 
them  for  Baku,  arranging  for  supplies  for  incoming  troops, 
arrangements  for  their  accommodation,  councils  of  debate 
with  emissaries  from  Baku,  negotiations  for  peace  with 
Kuchik  Khan  and  settling  matters  connected  with  the 
working  of  the  port  under  our  control. 

Among  the  visitors  from  Baku  was  Dr.  Araratiantz, 
a  representative  of  the  Baku  Armenian  National  Council. 
This  official  expressed  to  me  the  disappointment  of  the 
Baku  people  at  the  small  number  of  British  troops  arriving 
in  the  town  in  response  to  their  appeal  for  help.  They 
had  expected  much  larger  reinforcements,  and  he  tried 
to  tie  me  down  to  definite  promises  of  definite  numbers, 
which  I  refused  to  give.  In  order  that  his  mind  should 
be  made  quite  sure  on  this  important  subject,  and  also 
in  order  to  prevent  him  from  saying  later  that  we  had 
not  acted  up  to  our  obligations,  I  put  the  gist  of  our 
conversation  into  a  letter,  the  contents  of  which  I  begged 
him  to  communicate  to  the  Baku  people.  The  letter  was 
as  follows  : 

*'  Kazian, 

*' August  7,  1918. 

**  Dear  Dr.  Araratiantz, 

"  In  order  that  there  may  be  no  doubt  on  the 
subject,  I  desire  to  put  in  writing  my  views  on  the  questions 
you  put  before  me  yesterday  evening. 

*'  The  three  questions  dealt  with  were  — 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  215 

(1)  The  defence  of  Baku. 

(2)  The  position  of  the  Armenians  in  Erivan. 

(3)  The  position  of  the  Armenians  in  Julfa. 

"  As  regards  (1)  the  following  is  my  reply  : 

"  The  defence  of  Baku  appears  to  me  to  be  quite 
feasible,  and  its  capture  by  the  enemy  forces  extremely 
unlikely,  provided  that  the  inhabitants  of  Baku  are  heart 
and  soul  with  us  in  our  determinatioJi  to  defeat  the  enemy. 
It  is  not  sufficient  that  the  town  should  merely  be  held, 
but  the  defence  can  only  be  successful  when  the  Baku 
troops  can  issue  from  the  town  and  defeat  the  enemy  on 
the  field  of  battle.  This  particularly  affects  the  Armenians, 
who  form  a  great  proportion  of  the  fighting  strength. 
The  forces  suffer  at  present  from  lack  of  organization, 
owing  to  which  much  of  their  gallantry  in  fighting  is 
displayed  in  vain.  I  shall  shortly  have  sufficient  officers 
to  remedy  this  defect. 

''  The  entire  defence  of  the  town  cannot  be  undertaken 
solely  by  the  British  who,  as  you  know,  have  to  maintain 
large  armies  on  several  different  fronts,  and  the  distance 
from  Baghdad  to  Baku,  with  no  railway,  makes  the 
maintenance  of  our  troops  a  matter  of  some  difficulty. 

"  I  can  assure  you,  however,  that  every  available  man 
will  be  sent  to  Baku  as  soon  as  possible.  If  with  the  help 
of  some  British  troops  your  comrades  are  ready  to  under- 
take the  defence  of  the  town,  victory  is  assured.  But 
on  the  other  hand,  if  your  men  are  undecided  and  half 
hearted,  it  would  be  better  for  you  to  say  at  once  that 
you  do  not  intend  to  fight  to  the  end,  and  you  would  be 
well  advised  to  make  what  terms  you  can  with  the  enemy, 
after  first  giving  me  time  to  withdraw  my  men. 

"  As  regards  (2),  it  is  a  pity  that  the  splendid  fighting 
material  available  at  Erivan  cannot  at  present  be  utilized 
by  the  Allies.  I  can  hold  out  no  hopes  of  any  assistance 
in  their  direction  in  the  immediate  future. 


^' 


216    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  The  same  applies  to  (3),  though  in  this  case  the 
Armenians  are  much  nearer  to  a  possible  line  of  Allied 
ofEensive. 

"  I  write  thus  clearly  in  order  that  I  may  not  later 
be  accused  of  holding  out  false  hopes  which  in  the  end 
I  failed  to  fulfil. 

"  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatsoever  of  the  eventual 
victory  of  the  Allies  and  the  restoration  of  the  Armenian 
people,  and  this  alone  can  give  you  hope  in  this  dark 
hour  of  despair. 

"  Any  change  in  our  policy  that  may  affect  the  situation 
in  the  regions  concerned  I  will  duly  notify  to  you." 

As  the  events  described  in  this  chapter  have  been 
numerous  and  varied,  it  will  be  as  well  to  sum  up  briefly 
the  achievements  of  the  month. 

We  commenced  with  the  visit  to  Baghdad  to  put 
everything  in  train  for  the  next  move,  when  our  connec- 
tion with  Head  Quarters  might  be  entirely  severed.  It 
was  pretty  certain  that  when  the  Turks  saw  us  arriving 
in  Baku  they  would  strike  the  long-threatened  blow  from 
Tabriz  on  our  Persian  lines  of  communication,  and  it 
would  be  necessary  to  be  prepared  to  meet  this. 

We  next  noted  the  course  of  Bicherakov's  operations 
on  the  Tiflis  railway,  in  which  we  lost  one  of  our  armoured 
cars. 

Then  came  the  move  of  the  39th  Brigade  by  motor- 
lorry  from  Baghdad.  Resht  was  taken  by  the  Jangalis 
and  retaken  by  us,  and  peace  negotiations  were  entered 
into  with  Kuchik  Khan. 

An  important  agreement  was  entered  into  with  the 
Russian  Road  Company  by  which  we  entirely  took  over 
the  road  with  its  personnel.  A  similar  agreement  was 
entered  into  with  the  Kazian  port  authorities.  The 
Bolshevik  Government  was  thrown  out  in  Baku  and  its 
place  taken  by  the  Centro-Caspia  which  demanded  our 


IN  TOUCH  WITH  BAKU  217 

aid,  and  our  first  troops  were  sent  to  Baku  in  compliance 
with  this  demand.  We  had  arrested  and  deported  the 
Enzeli  Bolshevik  Committee,  and  secured  sufficient  ship- 
ping to  enable  us  to  carry  out  an  evacuation  from  Baku 
if  necessary.     A  busy  month  ! 


CHAPTER    XIII 
WE    MAN    THE    BAKU    LINE 

HEAD  QUARTERS  were  transferred  on  board  the 
Kriiger  on  August  10th,  and  we  hauled  down  the 
Red  flag  of  the  revolution,  substituting  the  orthodox 
Russian  flag.  We  had  no  sooner  done  this  than  we  received 
a  deputation  from  the  local  Committee  asking  as  usual 
for  explanations  and  wanting  to  know  if  we  were  "  counter- 
revolutionary." I  was  beginning  to  get  sick  of  the 
word  and  replied  that  1  was  not,  but  that  also  1  was  not 
a  revolutionary  and  therefore  absolutely  objected  to 
fljdng  the  Red  flag.  We  effected  a  compromise  permit- 
ting us  to  continue  flying  the  Russian  flag,  but  only  on 
condition  that  it  was  upside-down.  This  I  agreed  to 
cheerfully,  and  we  sailed  the  Caspian  Sea  thereafter 
under  the  Serbian  flag,  the  revolutionaries  not  being 
aware  of  the  fact  that  the  Russian  flag  upside-down 
constitutes  the  flag  of  Serbia. 

The  Kriiger  proved  to  be  a  very  comfortable  ship, 
and  we  soon  got  on  good  terms  with  the  crew.  The  saloon 
was  just  large  enough  to  hold  us  all  at  meal  times  with 
room  for  one  or  two  ofl&cial  guests.  The  only  adorn- 
ment consisted  of  a  life-size  portrait  of  Oom  Paul,  with 
his  inevitable  top-hat  surmounting  his  remarkable  features. 
Many  of  my  officers  were  South  Africans  who  wore  the 
two  medals  for  1899-1902,  and  it  was  amusing  to  observe 
their  startled  expressions  when  they  came  into  the  saloon 

218 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  219 

to  report  and  were  confronted  with  this  striking 
portrait. 

The  lightning  sears  the  night  landscape  on  the 
eyeball.  Here  is  a  flash  in  the  blackness  through  which 
we  were  stumbling. 

A  British  General  on  the  Caspian,  the  only  sea  un- 
ploughed  before  by  British  keels,  on  board  a  ship  named 
after  a  South  African  Dutch  president  and  whilom  enemy, 
sailing  from  a  Persian  port,  under  the  Serbian  flag,  to 
relieve  from  the  Turks  a  body  of  Armenians  in  a  revolu- 
tionary Russian  town. 

Let  the  reader  pick  his  way  through  that  delirious 
tangle,  and  envy  us  our  task  who  will ! 

The  Captain  was  a  first-rate  man,  a  good  seaman 
and  a  brave  fellow,  and  the  other  oflicers  seemed  a  fairly 
good  lot.  It  took  us  some  little  time  to  understand  the 
system  of  command  on  board  a  revolutionary  ship.  The 
arrangement  was  that  all  movements,  and  the  general 
affairs  of  the  ship,  were  run  by  the  ship's  committee,  of 
which  the  Captain  was  an  ex-officio  member.  In  theory 
this  was  absurd  ;  in  practice  we  found  that  the  crew 
were  very  amenable,  and  after  we  had  weeded  out  one 
or  two  undesirables,  we  seldom  had  any  trouble.  They 
never  actually  refused  to  carry  out  any  order  given  them 
through  the  Captain,  though  there  were  occasions  when 
they  carried  out  movements  without  consulting  him. 
They  had  a  great  idea  of  the  value  of  their  own  lives, 
and  once  or  twice  at  Baku,  when  the  ship  was  being  shelled 
and  I  happened  not  to  be  on  board,  they  quietly  put  to 
sea  till  they  were  out  of  range,  returning  when  all  was 
quiet. 

The  first  undesirable  we  had  to  get  rid  of  was  a 
drunkard.  This  unfortunate  specimen  was  addicted  to 
a  vile  Caucasian  drink  with  the  suggestive  name  of  "  Gee- 
gee  " — a  kind  of  arrack.  My  attention  was  first  called 
to  him  by  his  peculiar  performances  on  the  wharf  when 


220    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

under  its  influence.  He  had  not  altogether  the  appear- 
ance of  being  drunk,  but  behaved  rather  more  as  a  mad- 
man. When  I  saw  him  he  was  dancing  a  sort  of  wild 
hornpipe,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  he  drew  a  long  knife 
and  proceeded  to  run  amok,  leaping  on  to  the  ship  and 
scattering  the  crew  right  and  left.  At  last  he  vented 
his  fury  on  the  only  thing  that  was  unable  to  get  out 
of  the  way,  which  was  a  water-melon,  plunging  his  knife 
into  it  until  the  unfortunate  fruit  was  bleeding  from  every 
pore.  He  then  sat  down  on  the  deck  and  quietly  allowed 
himself  to  be  arrested.  One  of  the  crew  stated  that  he 
was  often  like  that,  that  he  never  stabbed  or  wanted  to 
stab  anybody.  He  invariably  contented  himself  with  a 
water-melon  or  something  similar,  and  always  waited 
to  be  arrested  as  soon  as  his  fury  had  spent  itself. 
It  also  appears  that  this  extraordinary  behaviour  is 
common  to  all  the  devotees  of  "  Gee-gee." 

Before  leaving  Enzeli  I  was  anxious  if  possible  to 
bring  our  negotiations  with  Kuchik  Khan  to  a  close,  and 
secure  the  release  of  Captain  Noel,  who  had  several  times 
been  reported  dead,  but  whom  we  now  knew  to  be  alive. 
But  in  the  end  I  had  to  sail  without  having  actually 
concluded  the  peace. 

In  the  meantime  I  received  a  deputation  from  Len- 
koran, a  strip  of  the  coast  on  the  south-west  of  the  Caspian 
where  the  Russian  frontier  runs  southward  from  Baku 
as  far  as  the  port  of  Astara.  The  province  is  bounded 
on  the  west  by  the  high  mountains  which  are  a  continua- 
tion of  the  Elburz  range,  and  on  the  north,  where  it 
includes  the  Mughan  Steppe,  by  the  River  Aras.  The 
original  inhabitants  are  Mahomedans  of  mixed  Persian 
and  Tartar  origin,  but  the  country  has,  during  the  last 
half  century,  been  colonized  by  the  Russians,  who  now 
occupy  all  the  settlements  on  the  fertile  low-lying 
lands  bordering  the  sea,  while  the  original  inhabitants, 
who   are  not   very   friendly  to  the    colonists,   are   rele- 


TI£E 

ENYIRMS  otMSU 

ENGLISH   IvULES 


Black  Town 

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Balii 


C  A  S  P  I  A  h 
S  EA 


THE 


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ENVIRMSdfMKU 


FNGLiSH    MILES 


0  '/2  1 


l^J 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  221 

gated  to  the  mountain  tracts.  The  colonists  are  of  pure 
Russian  descent  and  have  all  passed  through  their 
period  of  military  service.  They  possess  a  fairly  good 
armament,  including  several  field  guns,  and  they  claim 
to  be  able  to  turn  out  5,000  fighting  men. 

The  deputation  brought  letters  from  a  Russian  officer 
who  had  been  selected  by  the  residents  of  Lenkoran  to 
guide  them  in  military  affairs.  Since  the  revolution 
the  colony  had  been  compelled  to  run  on  the  lines  of 
inevitable  "  committees,"  but  the  people  were  apparently 
quite  untouched  by  the  real  spirit  of  the  revolution, 
and  paid  little  heed  to  the  committees,  while  relying 
solely  on  their  military  commander  as  a  sort  of  autocratic 
ruler. 

The  colony  is  rich  and  possessed  large  supplies  of  grain, 
which  they  were  anxious  to  exchange  for  cotton  fabrics 
and  ammunition.  They  desired  to  work  with  us  in  any 
scheme  of  opposition  to  the  Turks,  and  might  be  very 
helpful  to  us  in  Baku,  the  colony  lying  on  the  right  flank 
of  the  lines  of  communication  of  the  Caucasus-Islam 
army.  They  brought  a  cargo  of  flour  and  other  commo- 
dities as  a  present  to  the  force,  and  desired  to  enter  into 
some  permanent  agreement  with  us,  their  first  demand 
being  for  instructors  for  their  troops.  They  also 
placed  the  services  of  two  small  steamers  at  our 
disposal. 

In  response  to  this  appeal  I  sent  a  small  party  of  officers 
and  N.C.O.'s  to  visit  Lenkoran  and  make  themselves 
acquainted  with  the  situation  there.  With  this  party  I 
sent  two  Russian  officers,  who  were  to  remain  in  Lenkoran, 
Captains  Stepanov  and  Gurland,  the  former  a  distin- 
guished artillery  officer  who  had  seen  much  service  in  the 
early  stages  of  the  present  war,  and  the  latter  a  specialist 
in  matters  of  supply.  It  was  very  necessary  to  make  the 
most  of  these  friendly  advances  ;  the  troops  of  the  colony 
might  be  useful  to  us  tactically,  and  the  supplies  were 


222    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

very  important,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Baku  was  on 
the  verge  of  starvation. 

On  August  15th  I  received  a  letter  from  Colonel 
Key  worth  at  Baku,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract : 

*'  You  have  already  received  maps  showing  the  present 
line  of  defence.  It  mostly  lies  along  the  top  of  a  stony 
cliff,  except  on  the  extreme  left  and  on  the  right.  Rifle 
pits  are  badly  sited,  so  that  the  occupants  can  only  shoot 
into  the  air.  Even  if  they  were  sited  on  the  extreme 
edge,  the  fire  would  be  a  very  plunging  one,  and  the 
position  is  equally  unsuitable  for  machine-gun  fire. 

"  The  front  is  not  wired  ;  there  are  no  communication 
trenches.  The  total  length  of  the  present  front  is  21,000 
yards.  Rifles  available  (exclusive  of  our  own  men) 
are  some  6,000,  organized  into  twenty-two  battalions, 
which  vary  in  strength  between  150  and  500  men. 

"  I  am  trying  to  get  the  Commander-in-Chief  here  to 
dig  trenches  and  wire  the  front,  and  they  have  started 
this  morning  after  much  consultation  with  our  machine- 
gun  officers.  The  Commander-in-Chief  stated  yesterday 
that  he  had  enough  wire  to  cover  the  whole  front.  They 
now  seem  to  think  they  have  no  wire  at  all.  It  is  difficult 
to  find  out  what  stores  they  have  ;  they  do  not  know  them- 
selves. The  North  Staffords  are  occupying  the  extreme 
left  flank  and  also  have  about  100  men  near  the  centre 
of  the  line,  where  one  of  the  local  battalions  had  to  be 
withdrawn  (or  rather  withdrew  themselves  and  melted 
away). 

"  From  our  present  front  line  to  the  enemy  is  some 
2,000  to  3,000  yards.  The  only  possible  position  for  siting 
trenches  is  either  withdrawn  from  the  crest  or  at  th  foot 
of  the  cliffs  ;  both  have  a  good  field  of  fire.  I  prefer  the 
latter,  as  the  moral  effect  of  retiring  to  the  former  would 
not  be  good.  If  the  former  were  occupied,  machine- 
guns  would  have  to  be  placed  half-way  down  the  cliff. 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  228 

The  top  of  the  cliff  itself  is  of  course  a  shell  trap  and  the 
exact  edge  easily  ranged  on.  So  far,  wiring  has  started 
only  on  the  left  flank,  where  these  conditions  do  not 
prevail,  and  to-morrow  I  am  deciding  definitely  which 
line  to  occupy. 

**  The  whole  position  is  absurdly  close  to  the  town, 
and  enemy  batteries  could  at  any  time,  with  aeroplane 
observation,  bombard  the  harbour  and  destroy  shipping, 
especially  if  they  bring  up  heavy  guns.  Before  Baku 
can  be  safely  held  an  advance  must  be  made  and  a  position 
farther  west  occupied,  and  preferably  one  some  15,000 
to  20,000  yards  west  of  the  town.  This  would  render 
the  docks  and  shipping  safe  from  shell-fire.  At  present 
we  cannot  advance,  weak  as  the  enemy  is.  We  must 
first  reorganize  and  hold  on  where  we  are. 

"  Organization  of  local  material  for  war  purposes  is  also 
badly  needed.  They  are  short  of  nearly  all  stores  and 
material.  Yet  I  fancy  there  is  plenty  in  the  town  and 
it  only  needs  requisitioning.  Most  of  the  population  of 
the  town,  both  friendly  and  otherwise,  are  armed,  and 
there  are  a  quantity  of  rifles  amongst  them,  but  the 
Government  at  present  feel  themselves  too  weak  to  take 
any  action.  When  the  Petrov  question  is  settled  we 
may  be  able  to  go  ahead  and  disarm  the  whole  lot. 

"  They  are  gradually  getting  a  move  on,  but  it  takes 
time.  The  battalions  have  not  yet  been  reorganized, 
there  are  practically  no  ofliicers,  and  men  return  to  the 
town  when  they  like.  There  is  no  supervision  over 
ammunition,  and  much  is  wasted.  Sanitation  is  bad. 
When  Colonel  Warden  and  some  other  officers  arrive 
we  can  get  to  work  better. 

"  The  one  idea  of  the  Baku  army  is  to  retire  and  rest 
from  those  parts  of  the  front  occupied  by  us.  Hence 
100  men  of  the  North  Staff ords  now  occupy  a  front  of 
some  4,000  yards,  and  their  reserve  (Baku  army)  is  too 
far  away  to  be  of  any  use  to  them — altogether  a  some- 


224    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

what  impossible  situation.  Time  is  precious  ;  yet  they 
dawdle.  Of  course  I  know  this  must  be  so  at  first.  Politi- 
cal discussions  and  meetings  and  speeches  occupy  far  too 
much  valuable  time.  We  have  tried  our  best  to  make 
friends  of  Petrov,  but  so  far  he  refuses  to  meet  us.  Yester- 
day the  Central  Committee  delivered  an  ultimatum  to 
him.  He  replied  that  he  could  not  possibly  fight  in 
alliance  with  English  Imperialism  against  German  Im- 
perialism, and  that  he  would  leave  the  town,  but  insisted 
on  being  allowed  to  take  sufficient  ammunition  to  enable 
his  force  to  maintain  its  military  efficiency,  as  he  had  a 
possibly  enemy  country  to  move  through  before  reaching 
Moscow.  In  the  meantime  he  has  locked  up  all  his  am- 
munition and  guns  in  an  arsenal  and  has  sentries  posted 
everywhere.  I  told  the  Central  Committee  to  get  a  definite 
statement  from  Petrov  of  what  he  wishes  to  take  away 
and  what  he  will  leave  behind.  There  are  the  wildest 
rumours  of  what  he  possesses.  Some  say  500  guns  and 
thousands  of  rounds  of  ammunition.  Others  say  five 
guns  with  hardly  any  ammunition.  The  question  should 
be  settled  to-day,  but  you  know  what  these  people  are — 
all  talk  and  no  action.  I  have  at  last  got  them  to  agree 
on  a  definite  line  of  defence,  which  runs  roughly  as  shown 
on  enclosed  map.  The  part  coloured  green  has  been  up 
to  now,  and  still  is,  entirely  open  and  not  even  patrolled, 
so  that  Turks  have  got  round  into  the  Tartar  villages 
to  our  rear  which  are  now  full  of  armed  men  and  machine- 
guns,  and  it  is  this  we  are  trying  to  clear  up  now.  But 
these  infernal  politics  hinder  one  at  every  turn.  Rus- 
sians will  not  work  with  Armenians  ;  Russian  officers 
are  said  to  be  with  the  Turkish  troops  fighting  against 
us,  and  therefore  Russian  officers  here  decline  to  go  to 
the  front.  Most  of  all  this  is  only  talk,  but  the  Armenian 
seems  anxious  to  work  with  the  Russian  if  only  the 
Russian  will  let  him. 

"We  are  now  living  in  this  hotel,  where  the  food 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  225 

alone  costs  £2  10s.  a  day  per  head.  The  food  question  is 
becoming  acute.  It  seems  Baku  has  imported  nothing 
for  two  months  and  that  they  have  only  a  week's  supply 
left.  The  workers  in  the  oilfields  are  being  starved  ; 
the  price  of  food  augments  daily.  Lenkoran  is  giving 
us  nothing  at  present,  as  the  small  railway  is  not  com- 
pleted, and  they  lack  means  of  transport,  which  of  course 
you  know.  Crawford,  now  on  the  Food  Control  board,  is, 
however,  getting  a  move  on,  and  they  are  beginning  to 
think,  and  to-morrow  I  hope  they  will  begin  to  act.  It 
is  a  great  pity  Petrov  will  not  come  in  with  us,  but  we 
have  done  our  best,  short  of  begging  on  our  knees. 

''  Another  difficult  problem  here  is  the  transport  ques- 
tion. Cars  cannot  go  everywhere  and  animals  cannot  very 
well  be  fed  in  any  numbers  ;  water  also  has  to  be  carried 
a  long  way.  The  only  solution  seems  to  be  man-handling 
from  the  cars  to  the  front  line  at  night.  The  heat  here 
is  intense  and  one  drips  all  day  and  night,  making  any 
energetic  supervision  of  this  very  long  front  impossible 
without  cars  ;  and  even  with  cars  a  very  large  amount 
of  walking  has  to  be  done.  The  army  here  can  give  us 
no  cars,  instead  they  expect  us  to  supply  them.  They 
either  cannot  or  will  not  understand  the  difficulties  we 
have,  and  insist  on  looking  on  us  as  universal  providers." 

This  letter  brought  the  situation  very  clearly  before 
us,  and  it  was  evident  that  our  departure  for  Baku  could 
no  longer  be  delayed,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  had  not 
yet  actually  signed  the  peace  treaty  with  Kuchik  Khan. 
Military  advisers  from  Baku  were  also  anxious  that  I 
should  still  further  delay  my  departure  ;  they  had  an 
absurd  idea  that  it  would  be  better  for  me  to  wait  until 
we  had  a  large  body  of  troops  to  transport  to  Baku  ; 
when  these  were  ready  I  should  cross  over  with  them 
and  make  an  imposing  entry  into  the  town.  They 
thought  that  if  the  British  General  arrived  in  the  town 

16 


226    THE   ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

with  only  a  handful  of  troops,  the  effect  of  the  dis- 
appointment would  be  so  exasperating  to  the  towns- 
people as  to  take  all  the  heart  out  of  them. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  as  I  was  aware  that 
I  should  never  have  a  large  body  of  troops  with 
which  to  make  this  imposing  entry,  I  thought  it 
best  that  the  people  should  realize  as  soon  as  possible 
the  exact  limits  of  our  assistance  and  get  over  their 
disappointment  as  best  they  might.  Moreover,  it 
seemed  to  be  that  there  was  something  peculiar  in  the 
reiteration  of  their  remonstrances  at  my  departure. 
Accordingly  on  August  16th  the  President  Kriiger  left 
Enzeli,  and  arrived  at  Baku  on  the  afternoon  of 
August  17th  (the  run  is  about  eighteen  hours).  As 
we  neared  the  harbour  we  caught  our  first  glimpse 
of  an  oilfield,  passing  the  Bibi  Eibat  wells,  which  come 
down  to  the  water's  edge  2  miles  south  of  the  main 
town.  The  borings  are  very  close  together,  and  each 
well  is  worked  by  machinery  that  requires  the  use  of  a 
derrick.  A  cluster  of  1,000  wells  means  therefore  1,000 
derricks.  These  are  built  of  wood  with  asbestos  and  tin 
sheeting  to  minimize  the  risk  of  fire,  and  in  the  distance 
the  fields  look  like  ghostly  forests  of  dried-up  trees.  Our 
course  lay  midway  between  the  Bibi  Eibat  fields  on  the 
west,  and  Narghin  island  on  the  east.  Narghin  island 
was,  up  to  the  time  of  the  revolution,  the  main  war- 
prisoners'  camp  in  this  area,  and  it  was  chiefly  from  here 
that  the  Austrian  prisoners  of  war  were  released  who 
now  swell  the  ranks  of  the  Bolshevik  army  in  Trans-Caspia. 
Under  the  shelter  of  this  island  lay  the  thirteen  ships 
of  Shaumian's  and  Petrov's  fleet,  guarded  by  two  small 
gunboats. 

The  view  of  Baku  from  the  sea  is  most  imposing, 
the  buildings  near  to  the  sea-front  being  in  the  most 
florid  European  style,  with  a  distinct  leaning  towards 
German    artistic    notions.     In    the    centre   of   the   town 


II 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  227 

rises  the  dome  of  the  Russian  Cathedral  surmounted 
with  a  gold  ball  and  cross.  The  town,  as  may  be  seen 
from  the  map,  lies  in  a  crater-like  cup,  the  ground  on  the 
west  and  north  rising  gradually  for  about  2  miles  till  it 
reaches  the  line  of  cliffs,  whence  it  falls  precipitously  to 
the  bottom  of  the  desert  valley  by  which  the  railway 
from  Tiflis  enters  Baku.  The  population  is  approxi- 
mately 300,000,  chiefly  Armenians,  Tartars  and  Russians  : 
there  are  also  a  few  Georgians  and  Greeks,  and  smaller 
colonies  of  British,  French,  Americans  and  others.  The 
country  is  entirely  barren,  except  for  avenues  of  trees 
grown  in  the  town  with  the  aid  of  the  new  water  supply, 
and  for  the  surrounding  villages,  which  are  really  oases  in 
the  midst  of  sandy  deserts  and  partly  dried-up  salt  lakes. 

The  chief  oilfields  are  at  Binagadi,  Balakhani  and 
Bibi  Eibat.  The  town  as  marked  in  the  map  shows 
only  the  central  portion,  but  the  dwellings  are  really 
continuous  for  9  miles  from  Bibi  Eibat  in  the  south  to 
the  White  Town  in  the  east.  Black  Town  is  the  centre  of 
the  oil  refineries  and  is  a  mass  of  oil  and  petrol  reservoirs, 
between  which  are  crowded  the  workmen's  dwellings. 
There  are  2  miles  of  wharves  on  the  sea-front  opposite 
the  control  town,  and  there  are,  as  a  rule,  not  less  than 
sixty  steamers  in  the  harbour.  The  streets  are  paved 
in  the  usual  Russian  style  with  cobbles,  which  renders 
them  very  durable  but  unpleasant  to  ride  or  drive  over. 
Horse  trams  run  in  the  main  streets,  but  these  had  been 
suspended  before  our  arrival,  owing  to  a  shortage  in  the 
supply  of  horses  and  the  excessive  cost  of  forage. 

The  Krilger  was  berthed  at  the  most  western  wharf 
belonging  to  the  Caucasus-Mercury  Steam  Shipping 
Company,  opposite  the  centre  of  the  business  part  of  the 
town.  Alongside  of  us  lay  the  Kursk  and  Abo,  which  I 
have  before  mentioned  as  having  been  secured  with  a 
view  to  a  possible  evacuation.  Guards  were  kept  on  all 
three  steamers  with  orders  to  resist  any  attempt  at  inter- 


228    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

ference,  and  the  three  ships  were  kept  together  through- 
out the  whole  of  our  time  in  the  port.  As  soon  as  we 
were  tied  up  Colonel  Keyworth  came  on  board  to  report ; 
all  was  going  well  so  far,  and  the  Turks  were  showing 
no  great  sign  of  activity.  I  also  received  a  message  from 
the  Dictators  (there  were  five  of  them),  asking  me  when 
it  would  be  convenient  to  me  to  receive  them.  The 
remainder  of  the  afternoon  was  spent  in  inspecting  the 
excellent  building  we  had  secured  as  a  hospital,  and  the 
officers  and  men's  billets.  Every  available  officer  and 
man  was  already  in  the  front-line  trenches,  but  there 
remained  in  the  town  the  supply  and  transport  staff, 
the  sick  and  a  small  detachment  to  furnish  necessary 
guards. 
'^  Colonel  Keyworth  had  selected  the  enormous  empty 
Hotel  d'Europe  as  his  Head  Quarters,  and  a  certain 
number  of  billets  were  engaged  in  the  Hotel  Metropole. 
Both  of  these  buildings  and  their  appointments  were 
most  luxurious,  gilt  furniture  and  crimson  plush  curtains 
offending  the  eye  at  every  turn.  But  the  luxury  ceased 
at  this  point.  It  was  not  possible  to  be  luxurious  in  the 
matter  of  food,  because  there  were  only  the  merest  neces- 
r--saries  to  be  got.  I  noticed  from  the  bill  of  fare  at  the 
Metropole  that  an  ordinary  dinner  of  soup,  fish,  joint 
and  water-melon,  with  bread  inclusive,  cost  one  hundred 
roubles — that  is  at  pre-war  rates  of  exchange  £10,  at 
present  rates  of  exchange  about  £2 — a  large  price 
for  a  meal  and  a  poor  one  at  that.  I  will  refer  to 
the  question  of  prices  later.  In  the  case  of  the  Hotel 
d'Europe  an  arrangement  had  been  made  for  an  inclusive 
daily  rate  which  was  not  much  more  than  twice  the  amount 
of  the  allowance  that  officers  received  to  feed  themselves 
on.  On  board  the  Kriiger  I  was  able  to  make  cheaper 
arrangements  with  the  caterer,  to  whom  we  paid  eighty- 
two  roubles  a  day  and  supplied  our  own  bread,  which 
brought  the  daily  rate  just  under  £2. 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  229 

On  the  next  day,  August   18th,  at    daybreak   I   set 
out  with   Colonels   Duncan  and   Hoskyn  to  inspect  the 
front  line.     Beginning  on  the  left,  where  the  high  ground 
runs  down  in  a  series  of  rocky  spurs  to  the  sea  one  mile 
west  of  Bibi  Eibat,  the  position  was  a  good  one,  with  a 
fair  field  of  fire  and  with  a  naturally  guarded  flank.     The 
North  Staffords  had  made  every  use  of  the  folds  in  the 
ground  and  their  trenches  were  already  sufficiently  deep 
to  afford  a  certain  amount  of  cover  from  artillery  fire. 
On  their  right  was  an  Armenian  battalion  who,  inspired 
by  their  activity,  had  also  made  some  efforts  at  entrench- 
ing.    From  here  the  position  followed  the  line  of  the  cliffs 
due  north  for  about   7   miles  from  the  sea,  where   they 
curve  round  to  the  west ;   from  this  point  the  line  continu- 
ing north  came  gradually  down  on  to  the  level  ground, 
crossing    the    railway   about    1    mile    west    of   Baladjari 
junction,    and   continuing   thence   to   the   Mud   Volcano, 
at  which  point  (12  miles  from  the  left)  it  turned  back 
east  for  another  2  miles  to  Binagadi  hill.     This  was  of 
course  the  weakest  point  in  the  whole  line  which,  instead 
of  turning  back  here,  should  have  continued  due  north 
to  the  sea,  thus  giving  a  total  length  of  about  19  miles 
with  both  flanks  resting  on  the  sea.     The  right  portion 
of  this  line  between  the  Mud  Volcano  and  the  northern 
coast  required  very  few  men  for  its  defence,  as  the  Masazir 
salt  lake,   an  impassable    obstacle,  occupied    one-half  of 
the  distance.     This  gap  on  the  right  had  been  originally 
caused  by  the  withdrawal  of  Bicherakov's  detachment, 
and  the  local  military  authorities  attributed  all  the  blame 
to  him  ;    but  as  they  had  had  three  weeks  in  which  to 
remedy  the  defect  and  had  done  nothing,  the  fault  now 
evidently  lay  with  them  alone. 

Various  efforts  were  now  being  made  to  fill  this  gap, 
but  the  Turks  in  the  meantime  had  got  well  round  this 
flank,  and  all  the  villages  from  north  to  east  of  the 
town  (which  are  nearly  owned  by  Tartars)  were  full  of 


230    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

small  Turkish  detachments  and  local  Tartar  levies.  The 
main  Turkish  position  ran  on  a  slightly  higher  ground 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  railway  valley  roughly  parallel 
to  our  line,  and  3,000  to  4,000  yards  distant.  The  cliff 
portion  of  our  line  was  almost  impregnable  and  could  be 
held  by  very  few  reliable  troops,  but  the  local  troops  were 
not  reliable  and  our  small  numbers  could  not  be  cut  up 
into  an  indefinite  number  of  weak  detachments.  We 
held  therefore  the  left  with  the  North  Staffords,  with  a 
detachment  of  theirs  at  "  Wolf's  Gap,"  3 J  miles  from  the 
sea,  and  another  at  the  Mud  Volcano,  which  was  the 
obvious  danger  point  of  the  line.  The  Mud  Volcano 
detachment  was  strongly  supported  by  two  complete 
battalions  of  local  troops  in  Baladjari  railway  station, 
which  was  all  we  could  do  to  render  the  position  reasonably 
safe.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  when  trouble  came  those 
two  battalions  were  not  at  Baladjari  station,  and  no 
support    was    consequently    available. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  War  wicks  and  the  Worcesters 
both  of  these  battalions  were  sent  up  to  strengthen  this 
portion  of  the  line.  These  general  dispositions  were  not 
materially  changed  throughout  the  fighting  that  ensued. 
The  actual  command  of  the  troops  in  the  field  devolved 
on  Colonel  Key  worth  and  that  of  the  Infantry  Brigade 
on  Colonel  Faviell.  With  so  small  a  number  of  troops 
available  it  was  not  possible  to  retain  anything  in  the 
shape  of  a  general  reserve  from  our  own  men  ;  this  was 
supplied  by  the  town  troops,  but  was  never  at  hand  when 
required.  Supports  and  lodal  reserves  were  all  we  could 
manage  from  our  small  detachments,  and  they  were 
able  on  many  occasions  to  save  the  situation.  The  actual 
number  of  British  troops  in  the  position  was  never  more 
than   900. 

This  general  description  will  enable  the  reader  to 
form  some  idea  of  the  town,  the  country  and  the  position. 
As  regards  the  town  the  greater  portion  is  built  in  the 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  231 

ordinary  continental  style.  The  quays  in  the  neighbour-' 
hood  of  our  wharf  are  beautifully  planted  with  trees 
and  brilliantly  lit  by  electric  light  at  night,  when  all  the 
people  of  the  town  come  down  to  promenade  on  the 
boulevards  at  the  water's  edge.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  country  itself  is  quite  barren  ;  on  the  west, 
between  us  and  the  Turks,  there  is  not  a  sign  of  a  single 
tree,  or  a  blade  of  grass,  and  every  movement  of  the  troops 
by  daylight  can  be  clearly  seen  by  the  opposing  sides. 
As  regards  the  steep  cliffs  I  have  mentioned,  they  are 
about  500  feet  in  height  and  quite  precipitous,  but  a  good 
road  leads  up  the  face  of  them  from  the  enemy's  side, 
debouching  on  to  the  upper  plain  at  a  point  known  as  the 
Wolf's  Gap  :  it  was  here  that  we  had  our  centre  detach- 
ment of  the  North  Stafford  Regiment. 

The  local  troops,  who  were  for  the  most  part  Armen- 
ians, dug  very  little  in  the  way  of  trenches,  and  when 
urged  to  do  so  replied,  "  Why  should  we  dig  ourselves  in  ? 
We  do  not  want  to  dig  ;  cowards  do  that ;  we  want  to 
fight !  "  They  liked  to  line  up  in  a  row  just  behind  the 
edge  of  the  steep  cliff  and  fire  off  their  rifles  at  the  sky  ; 
they  frequently  did  this  when  there  was  no  sign  of  a  Turkish 
attack  and  when  the  nearest  Turk  would  be  behind  cover 
about  3,000  yards  away. 

Although  we  were  in  full  view  of  the  enemy's  lines 
throughout  the  tour  of  inspection,  the  Turks  never  fired 
a  single  shot  at  my  party  on  this  day,  which  shows 
that  they  had  more  sensible  ideas  on  the  subject  of 
controlling  ammunition  expenditure  than  our  local 
troops  had. 

Returning  to  town  I  met  the  Dictators  by  appoint- 
ment and  spent  much  time  in  discussing  the  situation 
with  them.  They  expressed  to  me  their  deep  disappoint- 
ment at  the  small  number  of  troops  we  had  sent,  to  which 
I  replied  that  I  had  stated  from  the  first  that  I  could 
not   pledge    myself   to   numbers.     I   also    called   on   the 


332    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Commander-in-Chief,  General  Dukuchaiev,  his  Chief  of 
the  Staff,  Colonel  Avetisov  (Armenian),  and  his  Adjutant- 
General,  Colonel  von  der  Fless.  I  invited  them  to  a 
state  banquet  on  board  the  Kriiger,  where  we  exchanged 
many  polite  speeches  and  discussed  the  various  problems 
connected  with  the  defence  of  Baku.  General  Dukuchaiev 
was  not  a  product  of  the  revolution,  but  a  real  Russian 
General  who  had  originally  been  with  the  troops  fighting 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Trebizond.  He  was  an  exception- 
ally refined  and  pleasant  gentleman  to  deal  with,  but 
his  character  was  not  suited  to  the  position  of  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  a  revolutionary  army,  for  which  it  may  be 
admitted  the  qualifications  are  rare.  Only  a  strong 
personality  could  exercise  effective  command  over 
troops  without  discipline  and  who  were  not  liable  to 
any  laws,  regulations  or  punishments. 

His  Chief  of  the  General  Staff,  Colonel  Avetisov,  was 
also  a  regular  officer  of  the  old  Russian  Army,  and  a  good 
type  of  the  Armenian  soldier.  He  possessed  considerable 
individuality  and  was  quite  fearless  in  his  speech  towards 
the  revolutionaries  ;  but  he  was  ill,  and  I  think  his  work 
suffered  on  this  account.  He  eventually  went  over  to 
help  the  people  in  Lenkoran,  and  his  place  was  taken  by 
Colonel  Stokes. 

Colonel  von  der  Fless  was  also  a  Russian  regular 
officer,  young  for  his  rank,  and  he  was  one  of  the  very 
few  people  we  met  in  Baku  who  knew  what  a  day's  work 
meant. 

On  the  following  day,  August  19th,  I  continued  my 
inspection  of  the  front,  and  later  in  the  day  met  the  ten 
members  of  the  Armenian  National  Council,  among  whom 
were  some  remarkable  men  of  considerable  ability.  I 
also  paid  my  respects  to  the  War  Minister,  General  Bog- 
ratuni  (an  Armenian),  who  was  still  an  invalid,  suffering 
from  the  after-effects  of  amputation  of  his  left  leg,  and  I 
was  favourably  impressed  by  him.     There  were  endless 


c: 


< 

ot- 

w 
a: 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  233 

ojB&cial  calls  to  be  paid  or  returned,  the  details  of  which 
I  need  not  record. 

The  five  Dictators  were  naturally  the  most  interesting 
of  our  acquaintances  ;  they  were  intelligent  and  zealous, 
and  of  the  average  age  of  thirty  years.  The  three  workers 
were  Lemlin,  a  former  naval  officer,  Yarmakov,  also  a 
naval  officer,  and  Sadovsky,  a  man  of  the  people.  Of 
these  three  Lemlin  was  the  most  attractive,  Sadovsky 
the  most  capable,  and  Yarmakov  the  strongest  character. 
The  idea  of  five  Dictators  seemed  to  me  absurd,  and  I 
suggested  their  choosing  one  of  their  number  as  a  single! 
Dictator,  but  all  five  unanimously  declared  they  were  not 
good  enough  to  run  things  single-handed.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  Yarmakov  was  a  strong  enough  man,  but  he  was 
unbalanced  and  headstrong  and  quite  unfit  to  steer  the 
ship  of  state.  Throughout  our  stay  in  Baku  he  had  his 
suspicions  of  our  intentions  and  thwarted  us  at  every 
turn. 

Commodore  Norris  was  naturally  impatient  to  get 
to  work  with  the  arming  of  merchant  steamers,  but  it 
was  a  very  delicate  matter  to  handle.  I  begged  for 
six  ships  to  begin  on,  and  gave  the  following  reasons 
for  requiring  them  : 

1.  The  Baku  fleet  had  big  guns,  but  no  means  of 
replenishing  their  scanty  supply  of  ammunition.  When 
they  came  to  the  end  of  their  supply  the  guns  and  ships 
would  be  useless. 

2.  Even  while  the  Russian  ammunition  lasted  our 
ships  would  be  a  great  addition  of  strength.  The  com- 
bined fleets  could  operate  against  the  railway  line,  which 
ran  close  to  the  coast  south  of  Baku  and  which  the  Turks 
were  using  to  bring  up  ammunition  and  supplies. 

3.  With  my  constant  movements  of  troops  between 
Enzeli  and  Baku  it  was  not  safe  to  run  the  risk  of  a 
Bolshevik    ship    from    Astrakhan  attacking    one    of    my 


234    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

transports.    I  therefore  required  my  own  armed  ships  for 
protection. 

The  above  were  the  principal  arguments  in  favour 
of  my  proposal,  though  there  were  others. 

The  navy  and  the  Dictators  were  dead  against  the  pro- 
posal from  the  very  first,  and  it  was  only  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  we  eventually  secured  two  ships,  the  Ventur 
and  the  Ignati.  Their  armament  was  not  completed 
when  we  were  compelled  to  evacuate  Baku,  but  these 
ships  and  others  that  came  away  with  us  were  eventually 
armed,  and  have  since  taken  part  in  encounters  with 
Bolshevik  ships. 

The  Baku  fleet  felt  that  once  we  possessed  armed 
ships  their  importance  would  sink  to  zero,  and  they 
naturally  put  up  a  very  strong  opposition  to  the  proposal. 
And  as  the  fleet  controlled  the  Government  it  may  be 
realized  that  we  had  considerable  difficulty  in  finally 
squeezing  a  very  reluctant  consent  out  of  the  latter. 
The  Caspian  sailors  admired  our  bluejackets  extremely, 
but  they  did  not  want  to  see  them  entering  into  com- 
petition with  the  Caspian  Navy  for  the  ruling  of  the  sea. 

The  replies  of  the  Dictators  to  my  arguments  were  : 

1.  It  would  be  better  to  let  them  have  our  guns  and 
mount  them  on  their  gunboats,  and  so  save  us  all  the 
trouble. 

2.  The  question  of  our  armed  ships  aiding  the  existing 
fleet  in  its  general  duties  was  evaded. 

3.  They  would  be  glad  to  convoy  our  transports  for 
us  (though  they  had  no  ships  to  spare  for  this  purpose). 

The  whole  opposition  was  of  course  headed  by  Yar- 
makov,  who  never  gave  in,  but  remained  in  a  dissentient 
minority  of  one,  even  when  permission  was  finally  given. 

The  situation  in  Baku  was  evidently  as  bad  as  could 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  235 

be,  and  it  seemed  certain  that  the  most  we  could  hope 
for  would  be  a  passive  defence,  which  obviously  entails 
defeat  in  the  end.  We  had  already  set  to  work  to 
reorganize  and  train  the  local  units,  but  it  would  be  a 
long  time  before  they  could  be  considered  mobile.  They 
would  be  able  to  sit  in  their  trenches  and  put  up  a  stout 
reistance,  and  we  would  be  grateful  enough  to  them  if 
they  would  only  do  this  (and  they  did  not).  But  the 
saving  of  Baku  could  only  be  effected  by  mobile  troops, 
who  would  issue  from  their  trenches  and  attack  the  enemy 
in  his  position.  The  only  real  plan  for  defending  Baku 
was  to  secure  and  hold  the  heights  due  west  of  our  lines 
now  occupied  by  the  Turks.  If  no  forward  movement 
on  the  part  of  the  local  troops  were  possible,  the  fall  of 
Baku  became  only  a  matter  of  time.  Still,  even  with 
the  certainty  of  the  fall  before  us,  every  day  that  we  could 
delay  the  entry  of  the  enemy  was  of  value  to  the  cause, 
and  new  factors  might  arise  which  would  alter  the  balance 
in  our  favour. 

If  the  Turkish  troops  were  of  any  value  at  aU  they 
would  have  taken  the  town  before  now,  and  there  was 
no  hour  on  any  day  when  they  could  not  have  taken  it 
by  a  determined  assault.  There  was  never  a  day  or  a 
night  that  there  was  not  a  gap  of  one  or  two  miles  in  our 
line  owing  to  the  intentional  failure  of  local  battalions 
to  reach  their  destinations.  The  town  was  full  of  German 
and  Austrian  released  prisoners,  and  the  Tartar  popula- 
tion of  80,000  might  also  be  regarded  as  Turkish  sympa- 
thizers. So  the  enemy  should  have  been  able  to  obtain 
most  detailed  information  of  our  dispositions. 

We  might  reasonably  expect  another  thousand  of 
our  own  men,  which  would  at  once  solve  all  problems  by 
giving  us  the  power  of  counter-attack  without  which  our 
situation  was  hopeless  and  with  which  we  could  ward  o£E 
any  Turkish  attack.  The  Caucasus-Islam  army  was  not 
made  of  the  stuff  that  will  stand  up  against  counter- 


236    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

attack,  for  which  they  gave  us  great  opportunities   on 
each  occasion  when  they  carried  out  an  assault. 

Should  we  not  receive  the  hoped  for  increase  to  our 
numbers,  we  might  get  a  detachment  of  Bicherakov's 
back  to  the  town.  If  all  reinforcements  for  the  town 
failed  we  might  still  hope  for  a  diversion  such  as  the 
materializing  of  a  contemplated  attack  by  the  Erivan 
Armenians  on  the  Turkish  lines  of  communication  in 
the  rear  of  the  troops  attacking  Baku.  Even  an 
indication  of  this  would  suffice  to  produce  a  panic  in 
the  Caucasus-Islam  army. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  we  had  come  to  Baku 
under  very  different  conditions  from  those  originally 
contemplated,  the  chief  difference  being  the  absence  of 
Bicherakov's  force,  on  which  we  had  relied  as  a  nucleus 
of  disciplined  troops  to  set  an  example  to  the  others. 
Without  Bicherakov  we  could  still  carry  on,  but  it  meant 
a  greater  consumption  of  time,  and  this  was  altogether 
a  time  problem. 

Had  Bicherakov  not  made  that  fatal  move  to  the 
north,  but  awaited  our  arrival  in  Baku,  the  town  would 
never  have  fallen.  But  the  future  can  never  be  foreseen, 
and  I  do  not  think  that  he  can  be  blamed  for  carrying  out 
the  move,  having  due  regard  to  the  circumstances  in  which 
he  was  placed.  Moreover,  up  to  the  last  moment,  I 
could  not  give  him  any  guarantee  as  to  when  we  should 
arrive  or  even  if  we  should  arrive  at  all. 

Had  we  been  able  to  instil  the  least  spirit  into  the 
local  troops  we  might  even  without  outside  aid  have 
won  the  day,  but  cowardice  and  disobedience  of  orders 
were  rampant.  I  am  far  from  wishing  to  brand  Armenians 
as  a  whole  as  being  cowardly  ;  my  remarks  refer  only  to 
the  Baku  Armenians,  who  are  very  different  from  the 
Armenians  of  Erivan  and  other  mountainous  tracts  in 
Asia  Minor,  whose  bravery  has  frequently  been  recorded. 
And  I  do  not  blame  the  Armenian  soldier  of  Baku  for  his 


WE  MAN  THE  BAKU  LINE  237 

cowardice,  which  is  at  best  merely  a  comparative  term. 
He  was  not  a  soldier  by  instinct  or  training,  but  just  an 
ill-fed,  undersized  factory  hand.  A  rifle  was  pushed  into 
his  hand  and  he  was  told  to  go  and  fight.  He  had  no 
equipment,  no  proper  instructors,  no  decent  officers  and 
no  regular  arrangements  for  food  supply.  Meanwhile 
as  he  sat  in  the  trenches,  with  the  bullets  whistling  by  and 
the  shells  bursting  overhead,  he  knew  that  most  of  his  mates 
had  skulked  back  to  town  and  were  having  tea  with  the 
girls,  and  why  shouldn't  he  go  too  ?  A  Baku  soldier 
could  hardly  be  expected  to  prefer  the  crash  of  bursting 
shells  to  the  delight  of  ladies  tea-parties  and  the  ease 
and  comfort  of  life  in  the  town. 

I  hold  no  brief  for  the  Baku  Armenians,  but  I  think 
it  only  fit  to  say  that  under  such  circumstances  no 
troops  could  be  expcted  to  display  a  high  standard  of 
valour.  And  finally  I  would  add  that  there  were  many 
cases  of  individual  bravery  among  them. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  a  handbill  scattered 
throughout  the  town  at  this  time  in  the  vain  hope  of 
arousing  some  military  enthusiasm  : 

"  Declaration. 

"  We,  the  *  frontiViki '  (veteran  first-line  troops)  of  the 
1st  and  2nd  Model  Regiments  for  the  defence  of  the  front, 
and  machine-gunners  of  the  2nd  and  4th  Companies, 
at  the  present  calamitous  moment,  when  the  enemy  is 
on  three  sides  of  us,  when  the  ring  that  surrounds  us  grows 
tighter  and  tighter,  when  shells  are  bursting  in  the  town, 
call  upon  all  citizens  capable  of  bearing  arms,  and  appeal 
to  all  to  whom  the  Fatherland  is  dear  and  in  whom  the 
spark  of  holy  fire  for  the  salvation  of  Russia  has  not 
yet  been  extinguished,  to  go  to  the  front  and  defend  their 
interests. 

"  The  present  moment  is  not  the  time  to  engage  in 


238    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

election  agitations,  or  to  attend  meetings.  All,  as 
one  man,  should  go  to  the  front  for  the  defence  of 
our  native  town. 

"  We  must  first  finish  one  thing  before  we  start 
another. 

"  We  protest  against  the  Bolsheviks  participating 
in  the  elections  for  the  Soviet.  That  is  not  the  place 
for  the  traitors  of  their  country,  and  against  whom  we, 
the  defenders  of  the  revolution  and  proletariat,  have 
been  struggling. 

"  Germans  pawns  must  not  be  the  arbiters  of  the  fate 
of  Russian  territory. 

"  We  protest  against  the  fact  that  many  thousands 
of  healthy  citizens,  armed  from  head  to  foot,  walk  about 
the  town  and  terrorize  the  peaceful  inhabitants,  whereas 
the  place  for  these  heroes  of  the  rear  should  be  at  the 
front. 

"  We,  frontiviki,  who  in  a  fateful  moment  are  holding 
the  front  and  saving  the  town,  and  who  up  to  the  present 
have  not  complained  of  our  fatigue  after  being  in  the 
trenches  without  relief,  protest  against  the  shameful 
agitation  behind  the  lines,  and,  expressing  our  full  con- 
fidence in  the  Centro-Caspia  only,  we  demand  that  the 
Dictatorship  of  the  Centro-Caspia,  with  its  own  power, 
eliminate  unworthy  persons  holding  positions  of  authority 
in  various  organizations,  and  substitute  worthier  people. 

"  (Three  signatures.)  *' 


CHAPTER    XIV 
SHORT    OF    EVERYTHING 

I  HAVE  omitted  to  mention  a  rather  curious  incident 
that  happened  just  on  the  day  that  Colonel  Stokes 
arrived  in  Baku.  On  August  4th  the  Kursk  (which 
had  since  become  one  of  our  ships)  had  arrived  at  Baku 
from  Astrakhan  with  a  German  mission  on  board. 

As  soon  as  the  ship  was  tied  up  alongside  the  wharf 
the  leader  of  the  mission  stepped  ashore  and  asked  to  be 
directed  to  the  Turkish  Head  Quarters.  His  surprise  and 
disappointment  were  considerable  when  he  was  informed 
that  there  were  no  Turkish  Head  Quarters  in  Baku,  that 
the  Turks  had  not  taken  the  town  and  never  would.  The 
entire  party  were  taken  prisoners,  and  I  know  nothing  of 
their  eventual  fate  ;  they  were  quite  probably  released 
by  the  town  authorities  and  may  have  joined  the  many 
Germans  and  Austrians  who  were  wandering  all  over  the 
Caucasus  and  Trans-Caucasia  at  this  time.  It  is  probable 
from  their  certainty  of  the  town  being  in  possession  of 
the  Turks,  that  positive  news  of  its  capture  had  been  sent 
by  the  wireless  operators  at  Baku  to  Astrakhan  on  July 
29th  at  the  moment  when  the  town  had  appeared,  as 
previously  related,  to  be  already  in  the  hands  of  the 
Turks. 

Questions  were  now  asked  ofiScially  by  the  Government 
as  to  our  reasons  for  the  arrest  of  the  Enzeli  Committee. 
These  questions  were  prompted  by  the  party  who  were  out 


240    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

to  discredit  us  in  the  eyes  of  the  Baku  people  by  proving 
that  our  real  aims  were  counter-revolutionary.  I  have 
already  described  the  events  that  led  to  the  arrest  of 
these  officials,  and  it  was  lucky  that  I  was  able  to  give 
an  explanation  that  not  only  silenced  our  accusers, 
but  tended  to  sway  popular  feeling  very  much  in  our 
favour.  The  town  had  no  sympathy  with  renegades 
who  had  allied  themselves  with  our  enemies  in  Persia, 
especially  as  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Jangalis 
had  recently  done  to  death  several  Russian  parties  on 
the  Kasvin-Enzeli  road.  The  behaviour  of  Cheliapin 
and  his  associates  was  therefore  regarded  as  being  as 
traitorous  to  his  own  folk  as  to  us. 

One  of  the  many  difficulties  that  confronted  us  in  Baku 
was  the  financial  question.  I  cannot  explain  this  better 
than  by  giving  extracts  from  a  report  written  by  Major 
Newcome,  of  the  Canadian  Infantry.  I  was  extremely 
lucky  to  find  in  my  force  this  officer  of  considerable  financial 
skill  and  experience,  and,  while  I  was  relieved  by  his  efforts 
of  all  anxiety,  the  British  Government  was  saved  very 
large  sums  by  the  protection  I  gained  thereby  from  local 
sharks.  I  had  first  discovered  his  talents  in  Persia  and 
had  consequently  attached  him  to  Bicherakov's  force  to 
supervise  the  financial  arrangements,  and  he  now  returned 
to  me  in  Baku,  bringing  dispatches  from  Bicherakov,  who, 
since  his  entry  into  the  Caucasus,  had  been  promoted  to 
the  rank  of  General. 

The  report,  it  will  be  seen,  was  not  written  until  imme- 
diately after  the  evacuation,  but  I  insert  it  here,  as  a  proper 
knowledge  of  the  exchange  question  will  be  necessary  for 
the  general  understanding  of  our  situation  in  Baku.  I 
may  also  note  that  while  Major  Newcome  gives  three 
rates  of  exchange,  the  local  Government  refused  to 
recognize  any  difference  between  the  three  currencies, 
and  made  it  a  criminal  offence  to  differentiate  between 
them.     It  was    necessary  of   course   for    them   to   issue 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  241 

such  an  order,  otherwise  the  Baku  notes  would  have 
been  worthless  even  in  Baku,  whereas  by  this  means 
they  were  compulsorily  given  a  certain  value.  But  in 
large  transactions  it  was  naturally  found  that  if  you 
produced  Baku  notes  the  seller  regretted  extremely 
he  was  quite  out  of  stock,  whereas  the  same  man 
had  plenty  to  sell  if  he  saw  Nikolai  notes  in  your 
hand. 

The  following  is  the  extract : 

"  I  arrived  in  Baku  on  the  19th  August  with  dispatches 
from  General  Bicherakov,  who  had  just  captured  Derbend 
a  few  days  previously.  Owing  to  the  uncertainty  of 
normal  methods  of  communication,  it  had  been  decided 
by  the  General  that  some  one  in  touch  with  his  plans  and 
situation  generally  should  visit  General  Head  Quarters, 
Dunsterforce. 

"  On  my  arrival  here  I  was  placed  in  charge  of  financial 
matters,  and  on  looking  into  things  found  that  we  were 
confronted  with  a  very  serious  state  of  affairs,  it  being 
necessary  to  provide  for  large  expenditure  for  which  no 
previous  provision  had  been  made,  and  in  the  entire 
absence  of  the  usual  machinery  to  faciHtate  exchange. 
The  banks  and  larger  private  business  concerns  had 
some  time  previously  been  nationalized,  the  skilled  staff 
done  away  with,  and  now  ignorant  and  unscrupulous 
committees  were  endeavouring  to  carry  on.  As  a  conse- 
quence of  the  many  restrictions,  etc.,  confidence  on  the 
part  of  the  public  had  been  entirely  destroyed,  and  the 
only  money  in  circulation  was  that  required  for  the  daily 
necessities  of  life. 

"  Under  these  conditions,  and  also  knowing  that  Persia 
left  only  a  very  limited  field,  I  took  immediate  steps  to 
persuade  the  various  men  at  the  head  of  financial  matters, 
that  the  banks  must  be  reorganized,  personal  enterprise 
encouraged  and    free  use  made  of  money  deposited  in 

17 


242    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

the  banks,  and  other  means  adopted  calculated  to  restore 
confidence. 

"  It  was  necessary  for  me  to  secure  some  fairly  large 
sums  of  money  almost  immediately,  and  with  some  little 
delay  an  advance  of  five  million  roubles  was  obtained  from 
the  Dictators. 

*'  My  attention  was  then  turned  to  the  sole  remaining 
means  of  raising  money,  namely  the  selling  of  either 
sterling  or  krans.  Transactions  in  sterling  were  only 
available  in  small  amounts,  and  only  from  people  who 
wished  what  money  they  had  hoarded  transferred  to  a 
safe  place,  and  it  would  have  taken  some  time  to  get  in 
touch  wdth  these.  In  fact,  only  at  the  time  of  our  leaving 
had  I  made  arrangements  for  the  first  transfer  of  this 
nature  of  any  importance,  covering  some  ten  million 
roubles,  and  delivery  was  to  have  taken  place  the  day  of 
the  evacuation.  The  matter  of  rates  took  some  time  to 
adjust  and  had  finally  been  settled  as  follows  :  Nikolai 
roubles  57  to  the  sovereign,  Kerensky  71,  and  Baku  bonds 
121.  These  rates  were  about  5 J  points  better  than  the 
present  kran  exchange  for  sterling. 

"  By  these  quotations  it  will  be  seen  that  there  were 
three  dijfferent  kinds  of  money  in  circulation,  all  of  a 
different  value  outside  of  Russia  and  also  to  the  initiated 
in  Baku.  The  Nikolai  was  the  old  pre-war  currency, 
the  Kerensky  was  the  issue  of  the  early  revolution,  while 
the  Baku  bonds  were  a  purely  local  issue.  When  the 
banks  were  nationalized  all  balances  were  seized,  and 
drawings  were  restricted  to  300  roubles  a  month.  People 
then  naturally  began  to  hoard  their  money,  and  normal 
circulation  ceased.  In  order  to  keep  up  some  circulation 
for  business  purposes  these  local  issues  were  then  made, 
at  first  on  the  town  securities  with  proper  legal  guarantee, 
but  latterly  merely  printed  as  required. 

"It  is  estimated  that  the  total  of  these  local  issues 
amounted   to   something   in   the   neighbourhood   of   two 


SHORT  OF   EVERYTHING  243 

hundred  and  fifty  million  roubles.  These  different  issues 
all  had  different  values  in  krans  approximately  averaging 
as  follows.  Nikolai  65  krans  per  100  roubles,  Kerensky 
46-47,  Baku  bonds  36-40  depending  on  the  trade  demands. 
This  rate  was  also  influenced  by  our  heavy  and  continuous 
purchases  of  roubles  in  Persia  for  operations  in  Baku  and 
the  north.  The  first  two  issues  were  really  current  and 
accepted  in  other  parts  of  Russia,  but  the  Baku  bond 
outside  of  Baku  was  looked  on  as  valueless,  and  was  of 
no  use  for  the  purchase  of  supplies,  etc.,  at  outside  points. 
There  was  only  a  very  limited  supply  of  the  first  two 
currencies.  Taking  these  matters  into  consideration  I 
immediately  decided  that  for  all  Baku  purchases,  expenses, 
pay,  allowances,  etc.,  payments  would  only  be  made  in 
Baku  bonds. 

"  I  also  took  steps  to  sell  krans,  accepting  roubles  in 
exchange  at  rates  varying  as  above,  and  from  this  source 
obtained  some  eight  million. 

"  All  through  my  operations  it  was  my  intention  to 
establish  some  means  of  securing  roubles  direct  for  sterling 
exchange,  and  in  another  couple  of  weeks  some  of  the 
schemes  under  way  would  have  borne  fruit.  This  means 
of  obtaining  funds  had  two  advantages,  firstly  easing  the 
situation  in  Persia,  and  secondly  a  much  more  favourable 
rate  could  have  been  obtained  than  is  at  present  in  force 
in  Persia  for  the  selling  of  sterling  for  krans.  By  obtaining 
sufficient  funds  in  this  way,  the  selling  of  krans  would 
be  limited  to  the  usual  trade  requirements  only,  and  thus 
a  double  saving  effected." 

I  should  explain  here  that  the  officer  originally  entrusted 
with  the  financial  arrangements  for  the  force.  Major 
Whitmarsh,  had  had  to  remain  behind  in  Persia,  being 
quite  unable  to  deal  with  the  two  situations.  I  had 
foreseen  that  on  moving  to  Baku  I  should  be  handicapped 
in  this  way,  a  large  number  of  my  best  officers  and  meu 


244    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

being  employed  in  Persia  in  appointments  from  which 
it  was  impossible  to  release  them.  For  instance,  my 
position  would  have  been  enormously  improved  if  I  could 
have  had  the  services  of  Major  Saunders,  Captain  Searight 
and  Captain  Cockerell,  but  to  withdraw  these  officers 
from  Persia  would  have  meant  a  breakdown  there.  The 
result  was  that  my  Intelligence  department  in  Baku 
was  very  weak,  and  I  suffered  much  from  lack  of  in- 
formation as  regards  the  enemy  ;  every  officer  was  fully 
employed — mostly  in  the  firing  line — and  I  had  no  surplus 
to  draw  on  to  undertake  special  tasks.  Even  Colonel 
Duncan,  my  able  A.Q.M.G.,  whose  services  would  have 
been  invaluable,  was  naturally  unable  to  sever  his  connec- 
tion with  Persia  entirely,  and  was  only  occasionally  able 
to  help  me  in  Baku. 

I  The  excitement  of  the  day  was  now  the  disarming  of 
Shaumian  and  Petrov's  men,  and  the  unloading  of  his 
ships  and  restoration  of  their  contents  to  the  main 
arsenal  of  the  town.  The  Government  had  nerved  them- 
selves to  the  undertaking,  and  the  Bolshevik  leaders 
submitted  after  the  firing  of  one  or  two  shots  by  the  gun- 
boats. The  disarmament  was  very  methodically  carried 
out,  each  ship  was  brought  in  turn  up  to  the  arsenal  pier 
(the  arsenal  itself  being  almost  on  the  quay)  and  the 
contents  of  the  hold  removed  and  stacked  on  the  wharf. 

\  The  ships  had  not  been  very  carefully  loaded,  and  the 
contents  of  the  hold  varied  from  big-gun  ammunition  to 
gramophones,  perambulators  and  stores  of  every  kind, 
from  which  it  is  obvious  that  the  statement  of  the 
Bolsheviks   as   to   the  necessity   of   removing    a   certain 

|,  amount  of  ammunition  for  purely  military  purposes  was 
J    only  a  cloak  to  cover  a  general  looting  of  the  town. 

The  process  of  disarmament  lasted  several  days,  at  the 
end  of  which  the  thirteen  ships  were  permitted  to  proceed 
to  Astrakhan  with  their  disarmed  troops,  a  rather  weak 

I  proceeding.     It   meant   thirteen   ships   permanently   lost 


SHORT   OF   EVERYTHING  245 

to  Baku,  as  the  Bolsheviks  of  Astrakhan  naturally  retained 
all  they  got  hold  of.  On  the  other  hand  the  Government 
was  not  prepared  to  imprison  such  a  large  number  of 
Bolsheviks,  and  was  equally  unwilling  to  have  them  loose 
in  Baku,  so  perhaps  their  departure  for  Astrakhan  was 
the  best  solution  of  the  difficulty. 

Shaumian  and  Petrov  were  imprisoned  in  the  town 
jail.  They  w^ere  released  on  the  day  of  the  fall  of  Baku, 
when  they  crossed  over  with  a  small  following  to  Kras- 
novodsk.  Unfortunately  for  them,  Bolsheviks  were  at 
that  time  very  unpopular  in  this  Trans-Caspian  port, 
and  the  entire  party  was  destroyed.  i 

We  were  now  confronted  with  the  difficulty  of  food 
supply.  Baku  produced  nothing  itself,  and  since  the  | 
revolution  very  little  had  been  imported  from  outside.  I 
In  the  days  when  the  seller,  and  the  buyer,  and  the  shipper7 
each  made  a  profit  out  of  the  transaction,  the  import  of 
the  necessary  food-stuffs  from  various  Caspian  ports  was 
a  very  simple  affair.  But  under  the  socialistic  plan  of 
nationalization,  imports  had  practically  ceased. 

The  goods  in  the  port  of  departure  were  nationalized, 
and  the  ships  that  transported  them  were  nationalized  ; 
under  such  circumstances  it  was  not  to  any  one's 
interest  to  import  anything  whatever.  Private  enter- 
prise had  entirely  ceased,  and  State  enterprise  was 
a  failure. 

If  the  town  was  to  hold  out  against  the  Turks  for  any 
length  of  time,  it  would  be  necessary  for  us  to  concern 
ourselves  with  the  question  of  supplies  not  only  for  the 
troops  but  for  the  civil  population.  I  deputed  Colonel 
Crawford,  assisted  by  Mr.  Clarke  (a  Baku  resident),  to 
inquire  into  the  matter  and  report.  Colonel  Crawford 
was  in  command  of  the  Locker-Lampson  armoured  cars, 
but  as  he  showed  signs  of  business  ability,  I  added  to 
his  normal  duties  this  of  the  Food  Control  Board.  This 
is  his  report  : 


346    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  Herewith  a  short  report  on  the  various  organizations 
dealing  with  the  purchase  and  distribution  of  food  in 
Baku  and  as  to  how  the  food  situation  is  affected  by  local 
politics. 

"  The  Commissariat  (Food  Control  Department)  is 
responsible  for  the  purchase  of  supplies  and  distribution 
in  the  town  through  its  agents  in  various  districts.  It 
is  responsible  for  negotiation  with  the  other  departments 
as  regards  transport,  shipping,  etc.,  as  well  as  with  the 
authorities  of  neighbouring  districts. 

"  The  distributing  organizations  are  : 

**  (1)  The  Co-operative  Societies  and  their  shops,  con- 
trolled by  a  Co-operative  Society  Federation. 

"  This  organization  is  at  present  extremely  unpopular 
owing  to  its  inability  to  cope  with  the  food  shortage  or 
to  ensure  fair  distribution  amongst  the  people.  It  does 
not  appear  to  be  more  corrupt  than  any  other  department, 
but  it  is  composed  mainly  of  small  men,  only  partly  educated 
and  without  sufficient  commercial  or  industrial  loiowledge 
to  manage  such  an  organization  efficiently.  Its  recent 
unpopularity  has  driven  them  to  ask  my  assistance  to 
improve  this  condition.  They  have  very  slight  political 
significance,  and  are  at  the  moment  chiefly  concerned 
about  preventing  their  organization  from  being  deprived 
of  its  present  position. 

"  (2)  The  House  Committee  Organization,  composed  of  : 

"  (a)  Central  House. 
(6)  District  Committees. 

(c)  Sub-District  Committees. 

(d)  House  Committees. 

This  is  the  people's  own  organization.  Originally  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  people  protection  from  robbery 
and  violence,  it  was  looked  upon  by  the  Bolsheviks  as 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  247 

counter-revolutionary  .  Later  it  was  made  use  of  by  them, 
and  is  now  a  legalized  organization.  It  has  latterly 
obtained  a  footing  in  the  distribution  of  food.  It  is  respon- 
sible for  the  statistics,  and  House  Committees  draw  food 
for  their  members  from  the  Co-operative  shops. 

"This  organization  represents  the  householders  and 
more  responsible  citizens  of  the  town.  The  head  organiza- 
tion, the  Central  House,  is  composed  of  prominent  citizens, 
educated  and  commercial  men.  It  is  composed  largely 
of  pure  Russians.     Its  tendencies  are  anti-socialistic. 

"  (3)  Workmen's  Committees. 

"  These  assume  on  the  oilfields  the  functions  of  the 
House  Committees.  The  government  is  maintained  in 
power  by  the  workmen,  whose  policy  is  governed  by  food. 
Whichever  party  can  provide  food  will  also  have  the  power. 

"  The  Food  Control  Department  is  largely  composed 
of  Jews,  who  are  anxious  for  a  firm  authority  in  Russia 
which  will  ensure  their  position.  They  see  no  prospect 
of  this  in  a  Russian  Russia.  Realizing  this  to  be  the 
British  policy  they  are  mainly  pro-German  and  in  conse- 
quence pro-Turk  ;  they  are  therefore  not  enthusiastic 
over  improvements  suggested  by  the  British. 

"  It  is  not  possible  to  devise  any  social  machinery  such 
as  would  satisfy  the  collectivist  socialism  of  Russia, 
and  which  at  the  same  time  could  cope  with  the  food 
situation  under  existing  conditions.  The  practical 
methods  proposed  by  me,  and  w^hich  they  admit  might 
prove  successful,  are  of  such  an  anti-socialistic  nature 
that  to  introduce  them  would  defeat  their  political 
aims. 

"  The  Food  Controller,  Roklin,  is  a  social  revolutionary 
and  an  ardent  party  man.  He  has  no  special  qualifica- 
tions for  his  present  position  and  no  commercial  or 
industrial  knowledge.  His  first  thought  is  his  party 
and  not  the  feeding  of  the  people. 


248    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  He  is  using  the  food  situation  purely  to  further  the 
interests  of  his  particular  party,  and  his  proposal  is  that 
the  British  should  buy  the  food  and  hand  it  over  to  him, 
and  he  gain  thereby  power  for  his  party.  The  Central 
House  have  put  forward  a  similar  suggestion,  with  the 
exception  that  they  would  like  us  to  take  full  control  and 
hand  it  over  when  we  had  got  the  organization  running 
satisfactorily. 

*'  In  my  opinion  it  is  not  possible  to  make  any  definite 
improvement  within  two  months,  and  any  party  attempt- 
ing to  deal  with  the  food  situation  now  will  suffer  in 
popularity.  I  consider  it  would  be  unwise  for  the  British 
to  take  it  over  for  the  same  reason.  Our  interests  will 
be  best  served  by  buying  from  all  possible  sources  and 
handing  over  what  we  obtain  to  the  local  authorities, 
taking  steps  to  make  known  what  we  so  hand  over.'* 

The  scarcity  in  food  naturally  brought  about  a  rise  in 
the  prices  of  all  commodities,  of  which  I  will  presently 
give  examples.  The  artificiality  of  any  currency  system 
becomes  very  apparent  in  a  revolution  ;  where  all  security 
comes  to  an  end  the  value  of  money  practically  ceases 
to  exist.  Actual  coins  of  precious  metals  disappear 
because  the  people  hoard  them,  and  their  circulation 
entirely  stops.  Paper  money  has  always  played  a  large 
part  in  Russian  currency,  but  there  was  presumably  gold 
behind  the  Nikolai  rouble,  and  its  fluctuations  in  exchange 
before  the  war  were  very  small.  The  rouble  was  then  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  the  same  as  an  English  florin, 
ten  to  the  sovereign. 

As  outsiders  in  Baku  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  put 
down  gold  or  a  guarantee  of  gold  to  get  our  roubles,  so 
that  every  time  we  spent  fifty-seven  roubles  we  put  down 
£1.  I  mention  all  rates  and  prices  in  Nikolai  roubles  in 
order  to  make  the  three  rates  of  exchange  less  confusing 
to  the  reader,  although  as  a  matter  of  fact  certain  com- 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  249 

modities  were  paid  for  in  the  ridiculous  paper  currency 
of  Baku,  and  for  certain  others  Kerensky  notes  were 
accepted. 

I  cannot  recall  the  price  of  bread,  but  the  following 
incident  will  throw  some  light  on  it.  I  was  present  at 
the  unloading  of  Shaumian's  ships  and  found  the  Tartar 
coolies  working  very  slackly.  I  spoke  to  one  through 
an  interpreter  and  asked  what  he  was  paid  a  day ; 
he  replied  twenty  roubles  (£2  old  rate  of  exchange,  ten 
shillings  present  rate).  I  said  :  *'  What  an  unheard-of 
sum  of  money  for  the  little  work  you  do.  In  India  your 
wages  would  be  eightpence  a  day."  To  which  he  retorted, 
"  Keep  your  roubles  and  give  me  bread.  The  twenty 
roubles  do  not  fill  my  stomach,  whereas  eightpence  in 
India  probably  would." 

The  price  of  a  water-melon  in  India  is  twopence,  at 
Enzeli  eightpence,  in  Baku  twenty  to  twenty-five  roubles 
(ten  shillings).  A  bottle  of  vodka,  normally  two  roubles, 
now  cost  one  hundred  roubles  ;  a  pair  of  long  field  boots, 
a  thousand  roubles.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  a 
rather  poor  dinner  in  the  hotel  cost  a  hundred  roubles. 
Where  money  has  so  little  value  the  tendency  seemed 
to  be  always  to  run  in  round  figures  ;  the  prices  of  most 
things  seem  to  be  either  fifty  or  a  hundred  roubles. 

As  Enzeli  is  only  eighteen  hours'  steam  from  Baku  the 
question  may  be  asked  why,  if  water-melons  are  eight- 
pence  in  the  former  port,  they  should  cost  ten  shillings 
in  the  latter.  The  answer  is,  because  the  shipping  was 
nationalized,  which  means  that  all  private  enterprise  was 
dead.  The  only  way  in  which  water-melons  reached 
Baku  was  the  following :  Ships,  such  as  my  transports, 
were  ordered  to  Enzeli  on  duty.  Before  leaving  on  the 
return  journey  the  crew  clubbed  together  and  purchased 
water-melons,  stacking  them  in  the  hold  and  on  the  decks, 
till  nothing  was  visible  but  a  green  mound  of  melons. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  ship  in  Baku  a  queue  of  intending 


250     THE   ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

purchasers  was  formed  from  the  ship's  side  along  the  pier, 
out  on  the  quay  and  up  the  adjoining  streets,  so  keen  was 
the  desire  of  the  Baku  inhabitant  to  possess  himself  of 
this  uninteresting  fruit  at  the  enormous  price  of  ten 
shillings  apiece.  The  ship's  committee  deputed  sales- 
men, who  dealt  with  the  produce  over  the  ship's  side 
till  the  stock  was  exhausted.  Baku  seemed  to  live  on 
water-melons,  and  the  only  pudding  we  ever  ate  during 
the  time  we  were  there  was  a  slice  of  water-melon, 
an  invariable  item  in  the  menu  of  the  hundred-rouble 
dinner. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  sailors  of  these  ships  had  quite 
realized  the  pleasures  of  "  getting  rich  quick,"  and  one 
of  my  transports  from  Enzeli,  timed  to  depart  on  the 
evening  of  a  certain  day,  refused  to  leave  till  the  next 
evening  because  there  was  a  shortage  of  melons  on  the 
Enzeli  market,  and  the  crew  would  not  sail  without. 
The  profits  were  quite  beyond  those  of  an  ordinary  gold- 
mine ;  you  put  down  eight  pounds,  and  in  twenty-four 
hours  you  picked  up  a  hundred  and  twenty  pounds. 
If  the  water-melons  had  been  nationalized  as  well  as  the 
ships,  the  prices  would  have  dropped  to  normal,  but 
as  the  nationalization  of  the  fruit  would  have  taken  all 
the  profits  out  of  the  transaction,  nobody  would  have 
bothered  to  bring  water-melons  over  to  Baku. 

Having  given  a  general  idea  of  the  economic  conditions 
in  Baku,  I  can  return  to  the  narration  of  more  stirring 
events. 

After  having  made  myself  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  situation  in  Baku,  I  concluded  that  the  best 
method  of  dealing  with  the  main  problem,  which  was  the 
control  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  would  be  to  visit  the  various 
ports  whose  situations,  tactical  and  economic,  linked  up 
with  ours. 

I  intended  to  run  the  risks  of  the  Bolshevik  pirate 
ships  and  get  up  to  Derbend  to  interview  Bicherakov 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  251 

and  see  what  he  could  do  to  work  in  with  us.  From  there 
I  would  return  to  Baku  in  forty-eight  hours,  then  visit 
Krasnovodsk  to  examine  the  harbour  (which  Commodore 
Norris  was  particularly  anxious  to  do)  ;  thence  to  Enzeli 
to  settle  up  finally  with  Kuchik  Khan,  capture  every- 
thing I  could  lay  hands  on  in  the  way  of  reinforcements, 
and  make  arrangements  for  rice  supply  from  the  Gilan 
country  ;  thence  to  Lenkoran  to  cheer  up  the  little  army 
there  and  arrange  a  raid  north  on  to  the  Tiflis  line  on  the 
Turkish  lines  of  communication,  and  to  fix  up  a  proper 
supply  arrangement.  Our  supplies  from  Lenkoran  were 
being  much  interfered  with  by  the  obstructive  "  com- 
mittees," who  were  trying  to  nationalize  the  grain,  with 
the  natural  result  that  the  farmer  found  that  they  had 
none  to  sell. 

I  carried  out  my  programme  as  far  as  Enzeli  was 
concerned.  I  failed  to  reach  Derbend,  and  my  plan  for 
co-ordinating  all  operations  on  the  South  Caspian  was 
not  approved,  so  the  remainder  of  the  scheme  was 
shelved. 

At  9  p.m.  on  the  night  of  August  20th  I  sailed  from 
Baku  with  a  view  of  reaching  Derbend  (about  180  miles 
by  sea)  and  rearranging  plans  with  Bicherakov.  It  was 
known  that  Bolshevik  ships  were  about,  but  I  trusted 
to  luck  not  to  run  into  them.  Unfortunately,  as 
Bicherakov  had  only  recently  driven  the  Bolsheviks 
out  of  Derbend  and  had  no  armed  ships  to  accompany 
his  movements  on  the  coast,  there  were  likely  to  be  a 
good  many  of  these  piratical  craft  knocking  about. 

During  the  morning  of  August  21st  we  made  good 
progress  against  a  stiff  breeze  from  the  north  and  at  about 
4.30  p.m.  were  approaching  Derbend,  when  we  observed 
a  ship  lying  at  anchor  off  the  coast.  I  was  on  the  bridge 
at  the  time  with  Commodore  Norris,  and  we  noticed 
distinct  signs  of  uneasiness  on  the  part  of  the  Captain, 
who  presently  remarked  :  "  I  don't  like  the  look  of  that 


252    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

ship.  I  think  she  is  the  Usbeg,  and  if  so  she  is  one  of  the 
worst  of  the  Bolshevik  craft."  "  Keep  on  your  course  and 
see  what  happens,"  was  the  Commodore's  suggestion, 
and  we  continued  to  steer  a  course  parallel  to  the  Usbeg 
and  about  2,000  yards  distant,  with  a  view  of  turning  into 
Derbend,  which  was  now  about  4  miles  ahead  of  us.  The 
next  thing  that  happened  was  a  flag  signal  from  the  strange 
steamer,  which  the  Captain  read,  "  Come  alongside  and 
report."  On  this  the  identity  of  the  ship  as  an  enemy 
one  became  a  matter  of  certainty,  and  two  courses  were 
open  to  us.  The  first  was  to  steer  ahead  of  the  Usbeg 
and  reach  Derbend,  risking  the  enemy's  fire,  before  she 
could  up -anchor  and  follow  us.  This  was  quite  feasible, 
but  if  successful  the  Usbeg  would  only  have  to  cruise 
outside  the  port  and  prevent  our  getting  out,  and  we 
should  be  shut  up  there  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time, 
which  was  a  situation  not  to  be  contemplated  ;  so  that 
line  of  action  was  negatived.  The  second  course  and 
the  one  we  adopted  was  to  steer  out  into  the  open  sea, 
turn  and  get  back  to  Baku. 

As  soon  as  our  change  of  course  became  apparent  the 
Usbeg  opened  fire  with  fair  precision ;  the  shots  fell  all 
round  but  none  struck  the  Kriiger,  and  our  speed  enabled 
us  to  escape  without  pursuit.  Thus  ingloriously  ended 
our  first  fight  on  the  Caspian.  I  determined  as  soon  as 
I  could  get  back  to  Baku  to  use  this  case  as  a  final  argument 
with  the  Dictators  to  compel  them  to  agree  to  our  arming 
some  of  the  merchant  ships, and  at  last  assent  was  obtained ; 
so  we  were  gainers  to  that  extent  by  the  episode.  But 
it  was  a  great  score  for  the  Bolsheviks,  having  prevented 
the  meeting  between  Bicherakov  and  myself,  which  might 
have  led  to  important  results. 

We  returned  to  Baku  on  August  23rd,  and  I  wasted 
no  time  in  waiting  on  the  Dictators  with  my  request 
for  the  ships  we  required  to  arm.  The  Commodore  was 
getting  impatient  at  the  delay  and  showed  no  signs  of 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  258 

getting  accustomed  to  the  dilatoriness  and  procrastination 
of  revolutionary  procedure. 

The  next  step  was  to  get  all  in  order  for  a  possible 
evacuation,  and  a  general  plan  was  drawn  up  based  on  a 
concentration  at  the  wharf  where  we  now  were  and  which 
appeared  most  suitable  for  the  purpose.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  there  was  a  more  suitable  wharf  in  a  position  farther 
east  which  I  had  not  discovered,  but  which  we  found  later 
with  the  assistance  of  the  Turks.  The  shelling  of  my  ship 
became  so  accurate  and  constant  (though  the  Kriiger  bore 
a  charmed  life  and  was  never  once  hit)  that  we  were  eventu- 
ally compelled  to  change  our  berth,  and  in  searching  for 
another  accidentally  discovered  the  wharf  near  the 
arsenal,  which  was  in  every  way  ideal  and  from  which 
the  evacuation   eventually  took  place. 

Several  attempts  were  now  made  to  get  us  to  release 
the  Kursk  and  the  Abo.  No  attempt  was  made  on  the 
Kriiger^  as  I  intentionally  retained  it  as  my  Head 
Quarters,  which  the  Dictators  respected.  Each  ship  was 
permanently  guarded,  evasive  replies  in  the  best 
revolutionary  manner  were  given,  coupled  with  a  stolid 
refusal  to  comply  with  any  such  requests,  and  the  ships 
remained  in  our  possession. 

The  town  was  rather  heavily  shelled  on  the  night  of 
the  23rd,  terrifying  the  unfortunate  inhabitants,  but 
causing  very  little  loss  of  life  and  doing  us  in  a  general 
way  much  good,  by  reminding  them  that  the  Turk  was 
at  the  door.  Whenever  the  shelling  ceased  for  a  day, 
the  townspeople  relaxed  their  efforts  under  the  impression 
that  the  danger  was  not  so  imminent ;  when  it  recom- 
menced they  got  spells  of  great  activity,  during  which 
the  troops  made  good  progress  in  training. 

We  were  now  getting  things  into  excellent  order.  The 
Armenian  troops  were  really  drilling  rather  well  in  the 
town,  though  reluctant  as  ever  to  take  their  proper  share 
of  duty  in  the  trenches.     Colonel  Warden  had  been  ap- 


254    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

pointed  Inspector  of  Infantry,  his  duty  being  to  pass 
right  along  the  line  from  flank  to  flank  and  see  that  the 
town  troops  were  in  their  proper  places  (which  he  never 
saw),  that  their  demands  for  food  and  ammunition  supply 
were  promptly  met,  and  to  listen  to,  and  remedy  if  possible, 
the  many  just  complaints  and  grievances  of  the  men. 
This  appointment  was  of  very  great  use  and  did  much  to 
give  cohesion  to  the  line. 

Major  Vandenberg,  of  the  South  African  contingent, 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  machine-gun  defence  of  the 
whole  position  and  effected  great  improvements.  Before 
he  took  over  his  appointment  the  machine-gun  situation 
was  hopeless,  the  weapons  being  placed  anyhow  :  some- 
times in  trenches  with  parallel  lines  of  fire,  and  no  field  of 
fire,  followed  by  large  gaps  with  no  guns  at  all.  The 
extraordinary  state  of  affairs  that  existed  may  be  under- 
stood, when  I  explain  that  in  many  cases  soldiers  regarded 
their  armament  as  their  own  property  and  not  the 
property  of  the  army.  On  one  occasion  Major  Vandenberg 
visited  the  line  and  sited  the  machine-guns  according  to  his 
scheme.  On  visiting  the  line  shortly  afterwards  he  found 
one  gun  missing,  thus  leaving  a  gap  in  the  belt  of  cross- 
fire. He  complained  of  this,  and  was  informed  :  "  Oh,  that 
gun  belongs  to  X.  ;  he's  gone  off  duty  and  taken  his  gun 
with  him."  This  stupid  behaviour  was  put  a  stop  to.  A 
school  for  instruction  in  the  use  of  machine-guns  was 
started  in  the  town,  which  promised  to  result  in  a  great 
improvement   in    general    handiness    and   fire    discipline. 

Colonel  Rawlinson  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  main 
arsenal  and  soon  began  to  produce  order  out  of  chaos. 
When  he  took  over  the  arsenal  the  contents  were  piled 
in  confusion  just  as  they  had  lain  since  the  disarming  of 
Shaumian  and  Petrov's  men,  when  the  assorted  cargo 
from  the  holds  of  their  ships  had  been  thrown  in  anyhow 
on  top  of  the  already  mixed  assortment  of  ammunition. 
To  comply  with  demands  for  ammunition  on  an  emer- 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  255 

gency  was  almost  impossible,  the  particular  class  of  shell 
required  having  to  be  sought  for  anywhere  in  the  heap. 
The  ammunition  store  was  partly  occupied  also  by  per- 
ambulators, gramophones,  sewing-machines  and  other 
miscellaneous  rubbish  off  the  ships.  In  the  arsenal  yard 
guns  of  every  type  and  calibre  were  lying  about,  sights 
missing,  and  breech  mechanisms  out  of  order  or  not  to 
be  found.  These  were  soon  sorted,  put  together  and 
sent  up  to  the  front,  until  we  had  over  thirty  good  Baku 
guns  in  action,  our  own  British  battery,  No.  8  R.F.A., 
being  the  only  mobile  artillery  in  the  defence. 

An  officer  and,  where  possible,  one  or  more  N.C.O.'s 
were  appointed  to  each  local  battalion  and  battery,  the 
latter  soon  attaining  a  high  degree  of  proficiency  and 
doing  most  excellent  work. 

We  now  proposed  to  link  up  the  local  troops  with  our 
own,  so  as  to  bring  them  under  proper  discipline.  The 
idea  was  to  attach  three  local  battalions  to  each  of  ours  : 
the  North  Staffords,  the  Warwicks,  the  Worcesters,  the 
commander  of  each  British  battalion  commanding  the 
small  brigade  thus  formed.  The  idea  was  an  excellent 
one,  but  it  met  with  so  much  stupid  opposition  and  delay 
that  it  was  never  properly  introduced  before  the  evacuation. 
I  visited  the  Minister  of  War  and  got  him  to  agree.  I  saw 
the  Commander-in-Chief  and  received  his  assent,  and 
the  five  Dictators  and  the  Armenian  National  Council 
also  agreed,  after  inserting  many  needless  provisions  ; 
but  from  agreement  to  action  was  a  very  long  call  in 
Baku,  and  we  only  reached  the  stage  of  action  too  late 
to  be  of  any  use. 

On  the  night  of  August  24th  I  sailed  for  Enzeli,  reach-  "^ 
ing  there  on  the  afternoon  of  the  25th.  Peace  was  finally 
settled  with  Kuchik  Khan,  who  from  this  time  became  our 
sole  contractor  for  the  big  rice  harvest  of  Gilan,  which  was 
very  important  to  us  in  Baku.  An  exchange  of  prisoners 
was  agreed  to  and  Captain  Noel  at  last  released.     With 


256    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

reference  to  this  exchange  of  prisoners  a  question  arose 

as  to  whether  the  restoration  of  prisoners  was  compulsory, 

or  dependent  on  the  wish  of  the  individual.     The  Austrians 

whom  we  had  taken  prisoners  at  Resht  and  who  had  yielded 

themselves  perhaps  a  little  too  willingly  to  us,  objected 

strongly   to   going   back   to   the   Jangalis.     But   Kuchik 

Khan  had  evidently  something  to  say  to  them,  and  refused 

to  release  Noel  until  we  delivered  them,  so  we  had  to  send 
p 
them  over. 

This  was  to  be  my  last  visit  to  Persia,  as  we  would 
shortly  be  reaching  the  critical  stage  in  Baku  and  it  would 
be  dangerous  to  absent  myself.  I  took  the  opportunity 
therefore  of  impressing  on  the  commandant  and  embarka- 
tion staff  of  Enzeli  that  we  wanted  all  we  could  get  in 
>  the  way  of  officers,  men  and  supplies.  The  command 
in  Kasvin  had  now  been  taken  over  by  Brig. -General 
Bateman-Champain,  of  the  Indian  army,  and  I  was  no 
longer  responsible  for  anything  on  the  Persian  side. 

On  August  27th  we  arrived  in  Baku,  bringing  back  with 
us  a  further  consignment  of  four-inch  and  twelve -pounder 
guns  and  ammunition  for  the  arming  of  our  prospective 
fleet  ;  it  was  a  good  thing  we  were  able  to  bring  these  guns 
with  us,  as  from  now  on  it  became  extremely  difficult 
•  to  get  anything  from  Enzeli. 

Colonel  Keyworth  came  on  board  to  report,  and 
informed  me  of  the  Turkish  attack  on  the  Mud  Volcano 
on  the  26th,  in  which  the  Turks  had  gained  their  objective 
and  our  losses  had  been  considerable.  Further  details  of 
this  action  will  be  given  later.  It  was  certain  now  that 
the  Turks  had  received  the  necessary  reinforcements  and 
were  preparing  for  their  great  assault  on  the  town.  If 
we  received  any  considerable  reinforcements  from  Persia 
we  could  regard  the  issue  with  confidence  ;  if  we  did  not, 
then  it  was  merely  a  question  of  postponing  the  final 
fall  and  making  the  best  arrangements  for  getting  our  men 
away  when  the  crash  came. 


fe>3  *:ivC  *<.  ^-«  I   ^'-        *«?^  W>: 


".*  ».•  -  --  -  s»* 


Major-General  Dunsterville  and  Colonel  Aratunov 


SHORT   OF   EVERYTHING  257 

The  Turks  were  of  course  wise  enough  to  foresee  this 
and,  with  a  view  of  stopping  any  further  reinforcements 
for  us  from  Persia,  they  commenced  their  advance  from 
Tabriz  on  Kasvin,  hoping  that  this  threat  would  serve 
to  check  any  further  dispatch  of  men  to  me.  This  move 
of  theirs  had  been  obvious  for  many  months,  but  there 
were  difficulties  in  the  way  of  our  assembling  sufficient 
troops  to  meet  the  attack  on  the  Kuflan  Kuh  which  was  the 
strongest  point  of  our  defence  on  the  road.  The  position 
was  taken  by  the  Turks  and  the  road  to  Kasvin  lay  open. 
They  never  seriously  advanced  very  far  in  the  Kasvin 
direction  once  they  had  succeeded  in  their  chief  design, 
which  was  to  stop  reinforcements  reaching  me.  Even 
individual  officers  of  my  original  force,  whose  services 
would  have  been  invaluable,  were  held  up  on  the  Persian 
side  owing  to  the  situation  there. 

While  going  round  the  position  the  following  day  with 
Colonel  Aratunov  (Armenian),  I  was  much  struck  with 
the  general  improvement  in  the  town  troops.  If  we  had 
only  had  time  we  would  in  the  end  have  made  quite  good 
stuff  out  of  them.  Ammunition,  both  artillery  and  small 
arms,  was  still  being  frequently  wasted  despite  the  urgent 
need  for  economy,  and  I  drew  the  attention  of  an  Armenian 
Colonel,  who  was  commanding  the  right  sector,  to  his 
artillery  which  was  firing  apparently  at  nothing.  He 
replied,  "  Yes,  they  are  not  firing  at  anything,  but  the  men 
in  the  trenches  like  to  hear  the  sound  of  their  guns  now 
and  then,  and  if  I  don't  fire  them  off  occasionally  they 
will  not  stay  in  the  trenches." 

The  shelling  of  my  ship,  the  Hotel  d'Europe  and  the 
town  generally  was  now  becoming  so  accurate,  that  I 
could  only  believe  that  the  enemy  had  a  telephone  line 
from  the  town,  with  an  operator  within  a  few  hundred 
yards  of  myself.  I  do  not  think  any  artillery  officer 
could  give  any  other  solution  of  the  accuracy  of  their 
fire.     They  had  of  course  a  large-scale  map  of  the  town, 

18 


258    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

and  without  direct  observation  could  easily  put  their 
shells  within  a  given  area,  but  the  series  of  shells  they 
fired  for  ranging  purposes  progressed  with  such  unerring 
regularity  and  precision  that  it  was  quite  uncanny  to  watch. 

From  my  ship,  lying  out  in  the  open,  clear  of  the  town, 
the  fall  of  each  shell  could  be  clearly  seen,  the  series  coming 
straight  down  towards  me  as  down  the  steps  of  a  ladder. 
Thus  the  first  shell  would  land  in  the  upper  town,  the 
next  half  way  down,  the  next  alongside,  the  next  between 
the  masts,  and  then  the  information  of  their  having  got  the 
range  would  be  notified  and  we  would  get  two  rounds 
battery  fire.  By  some  strange  chance  everything  was  hit 
except  the  gallant  Kriiger.  A  boat  just  astern  (with 
no  one  in  it)  was  destroyed,  and  a  heap  of  ammunition 
on  the  edge  of  the  wharf  within  three  feet  of  the  side  of  the 
ship  was  hit,  the  shell  boxes  smashed  open  and  two  men 
on  sentry-go  slighty  wounded,  but  no  explosion  took  place. 

This  example  of  the  progressive  series  of  ranging  shots 
was  of  daily  occurrence,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  conceive 
any  other  means  of  attaining  such  unerring  accuracy 
except  by  means  of  a  telephone,  but  we  were  never  able 
to  find  it. 

The  Hotel  d' Europe  was  shelled  with  equal  accuracy, 
and  with  equal  immunity  from  loss  of  life.  At  the  busiest 
time  of  the  day  various  rooms  were  struck  by  H.E. 
shells,  but  never  an  occupied  room.  The  clerks  at  their 
work  were  peppered  with  dust,  a  Russian  lady  type- 
writer was  knocked  over  unharmed  by  the  explosion  of 
a  shell  in  the  adjoining  room,  and  Major  Newcome  had 
a  narrow  escape.  We  soon  had  to  give  up  the  upper 
storey,  and  in  the  end  evacuated  the  hotel  entirely,  re- 
moving our  Head  Quarters  to  the  Metropole,  to  which  the 
Turk  at  once  transferred  his  attentions.  In  the  end  both 
hotels  were  knocked  to  pieces,  people  in  the  street  and 
some  of  the  hotel  staff  were  killed,  but  of  my  party  not 
one  was  touched. 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  259 

At  this  time  I  generally  remained  on  board  ship, 
but  occasionally  transferred  myself  to  the  gorgeous  chamber 
and  the  plush  upholstery  of  the  Hotel  d'Europe.  It  was 
extremely  inconvenient,  but  I  had  to  sleep  in  the  hotel 
for  a  week,  as  our  traducers  had  started  a  rumour  in 
the  town  that  the  British  General  slept  on  board  ship,  with 
a  view  of  deserting  the  town  in  case  of  a  serious  attack  ! 
During  the  first  few  days  of  my  stay  in  the  hotel  they  sent 
a  man  daily  to  see  if  I  was  really  there. 

We  were  being  very  closely  watched  by  many  parties, 
and  a  representative  from  the  Russian  Legation  in  Teheran 
was  also  in  the  town  taking  notes.  I  received  various 
deputations  every  day  and  occasionally  entertained  them 
on  board  the  Krilger.  Among  such  deputations  was  one 
from  the  Russian  business  men,  who  had  much  to  suggest 
and  propose,  but  any  endeavour  to  work  with  or  through 
them  would  have  been  damaging  to  our  interest  as  they 
were  labelled  by  the  town  "  Bourgeois  "  and  "  Counter- 
revolutionary," so  that  I  could  not  even  afford  to  be  seen 
talking  with  them.  I  also  had  an  interesting  meeting  with 
one  of  the  leading  Tartars,  a  very  intelligent  and  highly 
educated  man,  but  if  I  were  known  to  be  entering  into 
any  sort  of  relations  with  these  excellent  people  the  town 
would  have  been  in  an  uproar,  so  again  I  could  do  nothing 
for  the  time  being.  Had  we  remained  in  Baku  I  feel 
sure  we  could  have  eventually  settled  the  Tartar- Armenian 
quarrel.  As  it  was,  in  order  to  meet  this  gentleman  I 
had  to  go  at  dead  of  night,  unaccompanied  except  by  my 
guide,  to  a  house  in  the  Tartar  quarter  of  the  town,  where 
I  was  ushered,  after  ascending  many  flights  of  stairs,  into 
his  rooms. 

Steamers  were  now  leaving  daily  for  Krasnovodsk 
crowded  with  refugees  wisely  escaping  from  the  wrath 
to  come.  Their  departure  was  an  advantage  to  us,  any 
reduction  in  the  civil  population  helping  very  much  to 
simplify  the  supply  question. 


260    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Colonel  Chardigny,  of  the  French  mission  to  the  Cau- 
casus, was  also  in  Baku  at  this  time,  and  we  discussed 
together  the  extent  to  which  it  would  be  advisable  and 
possible  to  destroy  the  facilities  for  oil  production  and 
refinery  before  leaving  the  town  to  the  enemy. 

I  enlisted  a  few  helpers  locally,  and  among  the  most 
useful  was  Mr.  Dana,  an  American  citizen  who  had  been 
employed  in  the  oil  works  here  and  was  now  at  a  loose 
end.  I  attached  him  as  interpreter  and  assistant  to  Colonel 
Rawlinson,  and  he  did  very  good  work.  Ladies  of  the 
English  colony  in  Baku  were  taken  on  as  hospital  nurses, 
and  proved  a  blessing  in  their  care  and  attention  to  the 
sick  and  wounded. 

Captain  Noel,  just  released  from  the  Jangali  prison, 
reported  his  arrival  and  at  once  put  up  a  scheme  for  a 
raid  on  the  enemy's  lines  of  communication  in  a  tract  of 
country  with  which  he  was  previously  acquainted.  Colonel 
Rawlinson  was  also  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  a  similar 
scheme  to  be  undertaken  through  Lenkoran  and  across 
the  Mughan  Steppe.  Schemes  of  this  nature  were  neces- 
sarily extremely  hazardous,  but  their  chances  of  success 
were  considerable  ;  however,  the  end  was  too  near  at 
hand  to  enable  us  to  put  any  of  them  into  execution. 

Colonel  Battine,  who  was  getting  along  well  with  Kuhn, 
the  Dictator  of  Krasnovodsk,  came  on  August  29th  to 
confer,  and  returned  to  his  post  the  same  evening. 
Representations  from  Lenkoran  also  arrived,  so  that  we 
had  good  co-ordination  of  work  in  the  surrounding  districts. 
I  was  particularly  anxious  to  keep  on  good  terms  with 
the  Krasnovodsk  people,  as  I  hoped  that  when  Baku 
fell  I  should  be  allowed  to  reform  my  troops  at  Enzeli 
and  cross  over  to  Krasnovodsk  to  recommence  operations 
in  the  Turkestan  direction  from  there,  linking  up  eventu- 
ally with  General  Malleson*s  mission  on  the  railway  north 
of  Meshed. 

Major  Rowlandson,  whom  I  had  sent  with  Bicherakov's 


SHORT  OF  EVERYTHING  261 

party,  had  been  doing  very  good  and  hazardous  work 
and  was  now  on  a  special  mission  to  join  up  wdth  Colonel 
Pike  in  the  North  Caucasus.  The  latter  was  soon  after- 
wards killed  and  Rowlandson  had  a  hard  time  to  extricate 
himself  from  his  Bolshevik  surroundings  in  Vladikavkaz, 
which  he  finally  succeeded  in  doing. 

Major  Haslam,  R.E.,  had  been  entrusted  with  the 
entire  scheme  for  wiring  the  front.  He  was  engaged  on 
this  duty  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Mud  Volcano  when 
the  Turks  attacked  that  position  on  August  26th.  He 
at  once  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  defenders  and  was 
killed. 

The  Armenian  leaders  in  the  town  were  really  making 
great  efforts  to  get  their  men  up  to  the  scratch,  and  it  is 
no  fault  of  theirs  that  their  efforts  met  with  no  great 
success.  There  were  many  fine  men  among  them,  such  as 
Colonel  Amazasp  and  Colonel  Aratunov.  The  charge 
of  treachery  brought  against  the  Baku  Armenians  cannot 
be  substantiated.  Individual  Armenians  may  have  had 
tendencies  to  betray  both  us  and  the  town,  but  I  had  no 
evidence  to  prove  even  this.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
Shaumian,  the  leader  of  the  Bolsheviks,  was  himself  an 
Armenian,  and  he  was  certainly  against  us — not  as  an 
Armenian,  but  as  a  Bolshevik.  I  may  close  these  remarks 
on  the  Baku  Armenians  by  stating  that  while  heroism 
was  rare  among  the  men,  there  were  certainly  remarkable 
instances  of  bravery,  and  the  Armenian  women  in  the 
firing  line  were  nothing  less  than  heroines.  The  lack 
of  fighting  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  men  as  a  whole  has 
already  been  explained  ;  it  was  based  not  purely  on  cowar- 
dice, but  also  on  an  utter  inability  to  understand  anything 
about  warfare.  On  one  occasion  the  Turks  emerged  from 
their  position  in  broad  daylight,  moving  across  the  open 
desert  of  the  railway  valley,  seemingly  with  the  intention 
of  assaulting  a  certain  portion  of  our  line.  One  of  my 
officers  in  charge  of  an  Armenian  battalion  urged  the  men 


262     THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

to  move  forward  and  man  the  trenches  to  meet  the 
attack.  The  troops  refused  to  move,  and  their  spokesman 
exclaimed,  "  What,  go  up  there  ?  Why  that's  just  where 
the  Turks  are  coming  !  " 

Commodore  Norris  now  had  his  first  experience  of  the 
Baku  fleet  and  revolutionary  methods  of  fighting.  He 
proceeded  on  board  one  of  the  gunboats  to  shell  Turkish 
trains  which  were  in  movement  on  the  line  south  of 
Baku.  This  line  was  within  a  thousand  yards  of  the  coast, 
and  trains  on  it  offered  a  splendid  target  for  the  naval 
guns.  When  within  a  fair  range  the  guns  opened  fire, 
but  the  shooting  was  poor  and  the  results  were  nil.  The 
Commodore  suggested  to  the  Captain  that  he  should  stand 
closer  in  to  the  shore,  so  as  to  shorten  the  range  and  make 
sure  of  a  hit.  Orders  to  this  effect  were  no  sooner  given 
than  consternation  appeared  on  the  faces  of  the  crew, 
who  promptly  sent  the  spokesman  of  the  committee  to 
interview  the  Captain.  "  The  crew,"  he  began,  "  wish 
to  know  what  is  the  meaning  of  this  change  of  course  ?  " 
The  Captain  replied,  "  The  English  admiral  thinks  you 
would  make  better  shooting  if  we  got  closer  in  to  the  shore." 
To  this  the  spokesman  replied,  "The  ship  is  to  be  put  back 
at  once  on  her  former  course  and  no  change  is  to  be  made 
till  the  committee  have  discussed  the  matter."  The 
original  course  was  consequently  resumed,  the  committee 
meeting  was  held,  and  decided  unanimously  that  as  the 
enemy  were  known  to  have  a  field  battery  somewhere  on 
this  part  of  the  coast,  to  stand  closer  in  might  be  to  bring 
the  gunboat  under  fire  from  the  shore.  The  order  was 
consequently  cancelled  and  a  safer  one  issued,  that  the 
ship  should  at  once  return  to  Baku,  which  was  promptly 
carried  out,  and  the  operations  abandoned  for  the  day. 


CHAPTER    XV 
THE   ENEMY  WITHIN   THE   GATES 

THE  accidental  discovery  of  the  new  wharf  was 
entirely  due  to  the  desire  of  the  crew  of  the  Kriiger  to 
get  away  from  the  enemy's  shell  fire.  The  occasion  which 
I  described  when  the  ammunition  dump  ought  to  have 
been  blown  up,  but  was  not,  showed  that  the  Turks  were 
very  accurately  aware  of  the  position  of  my  Head  Quarters. 
A  move  farther  east  might  get  us  altogether  out  of  the 
range  of  their  guns,  and  if  it  did  not  it  would  at  least  take 
them  some  little  time  to  pick  up  the  new  range.  So 
when  the  shelUng  next  began  the  crew,  without  waiting 
for  orders  (or  even  holding  a  committee  meeting),  took  up 
their  position  at  the  new  wharf,  which  they  had  evidently 
previously  selected.  I  had  not  a  word  to  say.  It  was  no 
more  pleasure  to  me  to  be  shelled  than  it  was  to  them, 
and  the  new  wharf  offered  many  facilities  for  a  quiet 
evacuation  that  the  previous  one  did  not.  It  was  in  a 
less  conspicuous  part  of  the  town,  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  arsenal,  and  the  approaches  to  it  were  easy 
to  find  by  night.  The  Kriiger  lay  on  the  east  side  of  the 
wharf,  the  Kursk  on  the  west  and  the  Abo  tied  up  on  her 
outer  side. 

More  detailed  orders  were  now  issued  to  units  with 
which  each  individual  man  was  made  acquainted,  and 
each  unit  was  directed  to  make  itself  thoroughly  acquainted 

268 


264    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

with  the  nearest  route  from  its  position  at  the  front  to  the 
embarkation  wharf. 

In  this  chapter  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to  give 
several  extracts  from  my  correspondence  with  the  local 
Government.  It  must  not  be  imagined  from  these  that 
I  had  acquired  the  revolutionary  love  of  writing.  I  was, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  most  unwilling  to  use  my  pen,  but 
these  statements  of  opinion  had  to  be  put  down  in  black 
and  white  to  prevent  the  officials  from  denying  later 
that  they  had  been  informed  of  certain  facts  and  intentions. 
The  matter  contained  in  the  letters  was  usually  the  gist 
of  a  conversation  previously  held,  and  subsequently 
put  in  writing  for  record  :  nearly  all  my  work  was  actually 
done  verbally  in  the  first  instance.  In  some  cases  verbal 
means  were  impossible,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  finding 
the  person  to  whom  one  wanted  to  talk.  A  luncheon 
interval  of  five  hours  was  not  unusual  for  the  civil  and 
military  officials  in  Baku,  though  there  were  some  admirable 
exceptions  to  this  rule,  and  it  must  be  admitted  that 
Russians  are  wonderful  night-workers,  and  they  were 
very  probably  making  speeches  and  passing  resolutions 
by  the  score  when  we  were  comfortably  in  bed. 

It  now  remains  to  describe  the  fighting  that  resulted 
in  the  capture  by  the  Turks  of  the  Mud  Volcano  on  August 
26th.  On  this  day  the  position  of  the  troops  was  very 
much  as  I  have  stated  in  my  description  of  the  general 
position  in  Chapter  XIII.  I  had  visited  the  spot  and 
spoken  with  the  officer  commanding  concerning  the 
necessity  of  keeping  in  touch  with  the  Armenian  support 
in  Baladjari.  With  this  support  at  hand  the  danger  of 
the  position  was  not  too  great  to  be  risked,  but  if  this 
support  failed  the  position  could  not  be  held  against  a 
serious  attack.  The  detachment  was  in  telephonic  com- 
munication with  Baladjari  station,  and  if  the  telephone 
was  cut  or  failed  a  mounted  messenger  would  not  have 
far    to  go  to  call  up  the  Armenians.     As   far  as  I  can 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE  GATES    2«5 

discover  this  Armenian  support  was  never  there,  but 
Colonel  Kazarov,  who  commanded  this  sector  of  the 
defence,  asserts  that  it  was  always  there  except  on  the 
day  when  it  was  required.  On  that  day  there  was 
some  misunderstanding  as  to  reliefs,  the  old  troops 
marched  back  to  town,  and  the  new  troops  had  not 
reached  Baladjari  when  the  attack  took  place. 

The  position  was  assaulted  by  the  best  Turkish  troops, 
who  were  evidently  specially  selected  and  attacked  with 
the  greatest  bravery  and  determination.  Their  numbers 
were  not  large,  and  if,  when  the  Armenian  support  from 
Baladjari  had  failed,  the  local  Baku  troops  right  and  left 
of  the  Mud  Volcano  had  moved  out  to  threaten  the  flanks 
of  the  assaulting  column,  the  attack  would  have  failed. 
But  no  movements  of  any  sort  took  place  and  the  local 
troops  stuck  to  their  usual  role  of  interested  spectators. 

I  cannot  describe  the  action  better  than  by  quoting 
in  full  the  report  of  Colonel  Faviell,  commanding  the 
39th  Brigade,  which  is  as  follows  : 


"  Turkish  Attack  on  August  26,  1918. 

"  The  Mud  Volcano  position  was  held  by  D  Company, 
North  Staffordshire  Regiment,  under  the  command  of 
Captain  Sparrow,  M.C. 

"  The  attack  opened  at  10.30  a.m.,  when  the  enemy 
were  seen  debouching  from  south-west  of  Mud  Volcano 
in  four  lines  in  extended  order,  with  a  body  of  cavalry 
operating  on  their  right  flank. 

"  The  strength  of  the  enemy  forces  was  estimated 
about  one  thousand. 

**'  The  attack  was  launched  with  great  vigour,  sup- 
ported by  light  and  heavy  artillery  fire  on  our  positions. 
For  some  considerable  time  the  enemy  were  held  by  our 
machine-gun  and  rifle    fire.     Five  separate  attacks  were 


266    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

launched   on    No.    1    Post.     The  fifth    succeeded  in    an- 
nihilating the  defence  in  that  particular  section. 

"  About  12.30  p.m.  the  enemy  succeeded  in  working 
round  the  northern  flank  of  the  Volcano  and,  bringing 
up  machine-guns,  they  then  opened  heavy  and  accurate 
fire  in  reverse  on  No.  2  and  3  Posts,  his  attack  on  the 
southern  flank  being  at  the  same  time  annihilated.  By 
1.30  p.m.  No.  2  and  3  posts  were  rushed  by  the  enemy  ; 
only  about  half  a  dozen  unwounded  men  succeeded  in 
getting  back  from  the  actual  positions  attacked. 

"  All  the  officers  were  casualties,  and  about  eighty  men 
of  the  company  are  at  present  missing,  including  these 
officers.  Reinforcements  under  Major  Ley,  D.S.O.,  con- 
sisting of  sixty  North  Staffords,  and  seventy  Royal 
Warwicks,  dispatched  in  lorries  from  Baku  at  1.30  p.m., 
arrived  too  late  to  save  the  position.  One  company 
9th  Worcester  Regiment  dispatched  as  a  further  rein- 
forcement at  3  p.m.,  came  under  Major  Ley's  orders 
shortly  after  3.30  p.m. 

*'  In  conjunction  with  the  above  operations  the  enemy 
launched  an  attack  on  the  hill  west  of  Binagadi  village 
from  the  village  of  Novkhany.  This  hill  had  been  held 
by   an   Armenian   battalion. 

"  During  the  attack  on  the  Volcano  one  company 
North  Staffords  at  Diga  were  ordered  to  move  to  Binagadi 
village  to  support  this  battalion.  Arriving  about  2.15  p.m. 
this  company,  seeing  that  the  hill  was  not  held  by  our 
troops,  pushed  up  the  hill,  and  arriving  at  the  summit 
found  the  enemy  about  250  strong  advancing  to  occupy 
it,  having  already  reached  the  lower  slopes  on  the  northern 
side.  The  leading  men  of  the  North  Staffords  immediately 
occupied  the  trenches  below  the  crest  of  the  hill  and  poured 
in  a  heavy  fire  with  Lewis -guns  and  rifles  at  short  range, 
driving  back  the  enemy  with  severe  loss.  The  company 
suffered  slight  casualties,  only  about  ten  killed  and 
wounded,    including    Lieutenant    Craig,   who   was   com- 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE  GATES         267 

manding  the  company,  and  Lieutenant  Macbeth,  both 
of  whom  were  wounded.  Shortly  afterwards  the  enemy 
reformed  and  launched  another  attack,  but  this  was 
easily  driven  off  before  the  enemy  reached  the  lower 
slopes,  and  he  retired  in  disorder  to  a  sunken  road  out 
of  effective  range. 

"  After  we  were  driven  off  the  Volcano,  we  occupied  a 
new  line  as  follows.  From  Binagadi  hill  west  of  the 
village  to  Baladjari  railway  station  with  two  intermediate 
posts,  one  of  one  company  Royal  Warwicks  among  the 
oil  derricks  east  of  the  Volcano,  and  another  of  one  com- 
pany North  Staffords  south  of  them  in  the  low  ground 
between  that  place  and  Baladjari  station. 

*'  (Note. — Two  local  battalions  which  had  been  ordered 
to  Baladjari  as  reserve  for  this  section  of  the  line  had  not 
left  Baku  when  the  attack  took  place.  It  appears  either 
that  they  refused  to  move  or  that  the  local  staff  had  failed 
to  transmit  the  orders  of  the  Commander-in-Chief.)  '* 

The  splendid  gallantry  of  this  company  of  the  North 
Staffords  saved  Baku  on  this  occasion,  and  once  again 
postponed  the  inevitable  fall.  Had  the  attack  fallen  on 
local  troops  there  would  have  been  nothing  to  check 
the  Turkish  advance  on  to  the  line  of  the  cliffs  and  thence 
into  the  heart  of  the  town.  It  now  became  an  urgent 
question  as  to  whether  I  could  justify  myself  in  allowing 
more  lives  to  be  risked  in  a  cause  that  seemed  beyond  all 
hope. 

The  rations  for  troops  were  a  matter  of  some  difficulty. 
We  never  suffered  from  a  shortage  of  good  wholesome 
meat  and  bread,  but  all  that  goes  to  make  food  palatable 
and  wholesome  such  as  vegetables,  jam,  butter  and  milk 
were  unobtainable.  I  was  lucky  getting  some  splendid 
honey  from  Enzeli,  and  the  men  were  once  or  twice  cheered 
by  an  issue  of  Baku  beer  which  bore  some  slight  resem- 
blance to  the  real  stuff.     In  Baku,  where  cheap  things  were 


268    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

dear,  dear  things  were  cheap,  and  I  was  able  to  issue  a 
ration  of  the  greatest  delicacy,  namely  fresh  caviare. 
But  caviare  requires  a  trained  palate,  and  the  soldiers, 
who  called  this  rumoured  delicacy  "  herring  paste,"  had 
no  great  liking  for  it. 

Another  difficulty  was  the  lack  of  transport.  We  had 
with  us  some  of  the  Ford  vans  of  No.  730  Company, 
which  after  nine  months  of  the  roughest  usage  were  still 
doing  splendid  work,  but  the  number  was  quite  insufficient. 
The  fact  that  these  cars  were  usable  at  all  was  solely  due 
to  the  great  skill  and  care  expended  on  them  by  Captain 
Aldham,  who  had  been  with  us  from  the  start,  and  who 
had  nursed  the  cars  as  if  they  were  his  own  children. 

The  town  possessed  a  good  deal  of  mechanical  trans- 
port in  various  stages  of  disrepair.  One  of  our  mechanical 
transport  companies  could  have  got  most  of  the  vehicles 
working  in  a  few  days,  but  these  revolutionaries  with  their 
committee  methods  are  incapable  of  accomplishing  any- 
thing. All  matters  are  referred  to  committees,  and  even 
if  the  decision  of  the  committee  is  a  favourable  one,  the 
deliberations  generally  last  so  long  that  the  point  under 
discussion  has  lost  its  importance  by  the  time  a  decision 
has  been  reached.  Thus  every  battalion  has  its  committee, 
and  so  has  each  company  in  the  battalion  ;  and  committee 
meetings  are  actually  held  during  the  progress  of  an 
action.  One  may  hazard  a  guess  that  the  troops  allotted 
for  the  support  of  the  Mud  Volcano  failed  to  arrive  because 
they  were  holding  committee  meetings  to  decide  whether 
they  should  take  action  or  not. 

The  futility  of  these  committees  is  obvious  from  the 
fact  that  when  they  have  reached  a  decision  they  have 
no  power  to  enforce  it,  and  the  men  do  not  consider 
themselves  at  all  bound  by  the  committees  unless  their 
decisions  are  in  accordance  with  their  own  wishes.  They 
may  finally  say,  "  We  will  not  go."  The  solution  is  simple 
— appeal  direct  to  the  men.     This  annoys  the  committees 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE  GATES         269 

very  much,  but  it  settles  the  matter  finally  one  way  or 
another. 

There  are  many  brands  of  revolutionaries  in  Russia 
at  the  present  time  who  disagree  on  many  points,  but  all 
unite  in  asserting  the  freedom,  equality  and  brotherhood 
of  man.  It  is  this  freedom  and  equality  that  puts  a  stop 
to  all  enterprise,  each  man  saying,  "  I'm  not  going  to  do 
it,  if  the  other  fellow  doesn't" ;  so  nobody  does  anything. 
The  Bolshevik  troops  and  officials  are  in  just  the  same 
frame  of  mind  as  the  soldier  I  mentioned  in  Chapter  III, 
who  said,  "  I  am  a  Bolshevik,  but  I  do  not  know  what 
Bolshevism  means,  as  I  cannot  read  or  write.  I  just 
accept  what  the  last  speaker  says.  I  want  to  be  left 
alone  and  helped  home,  and  as  the  committee  in  Kazian 
is  Bolshevik,  I  am  too.  If  it  were  anything  else  I  would 
be  that."  Lenin  and  Trotzky  from  the  first  have  held 
the  money  and  the  arsenals,  then  obviously  if  you  want 
a  daily  wage  you  must  enrol  yourself  as  a  Bolshevik, 
and  if  you  want  to  fight  you  must  fight  as  a  Bolshevik, 
because  they  alone  control  the  supply  of  arms  and 
ammunition. 

In  addition  to  the  two  leaders,  all  the  Bolshevik 
committee  men  are  in  a  minor  sense  true  Bolsheviks, 
and  would  not  be  willing,  like  the  ordinary  man  in  the 
street,  to  accept  any  other  form  of  revolutionary  govern- 
ment that  could  feed  and  arm  them.  Men  change  their 
minds  like  weathercocks,  and  the  Bolshevik  of  to-day 
is  the  Menshevik  of  to-morrow.  In  Baku  most  of  the 
previous  Bolsheviks  were  now  sincere  well-wishers  and 
active  supporters  of  the  British  Government,  simply 
because  we  represented  cash  and  armed  strength. 

But  I  should  imagine  that  the  whole  of  Russia,  to 
whatever  category  of  revolutionary  ideas  they  may 
subscribe,  are  longing,  like  the  people  of  Baku,  for  any 
form  of  government  that  will  restore  some  sort  of  law  and 
order.     They  are  heartily  sick  of  their  liberty,  equality 


270    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

and  fraternity.  Revolutionaries  are  quite  the  least 
brotheriy  people  towards  each  other  that  the  worid 
contains,  and  constitute  a  living  refutation  of  their 
fundamental  doctrines. 

On  my  return  from  Enzeli  I  took  an  eariy  opportunity 
of  discussing  the  events  of  August  26th  with  General 
Dukuchaiev,  and  received  from  him  many  explanations 
and  assurances  that  such  failure  to  support  our  troops 
would  never  occur  again.  His  intentions  were  certainly 
of  the  best,  but  we  found  later  that  he  was  unable  to 
give  effect  to  them. 

I  also  addressed  the  Dictators  on  the  same  subject, 
and  took  the  opportunity  of  pointing  out  that  I  had  never 
seen  any  of  them  or  the  military  staff  (with  the  exception 
of  von  der  Fless)  at  the  front.  They  contented  themselves 
with  studying  the  position  on  maps  in  their  offices,  and 
issued  orders  based  on  reports  that  were  frequently  untrue, 
and  they  never  attempted  to  verify  these  reports  by 
having  a  personal  look  round. 

During  the  next  three  days  the  Turks  kept  us  pretty 
busy  with  minor  attacks  which  were  not  pressed  home, 
and  on  August  31st,  they  again  attacked  in  force,  this  time 
on  Binagadi  hill,  which  was  held  by  our  troops  for  the 
reason  that  it  had  seemed  to  be  the  most  likely  place  of 
attack.  This  time  every  precaution  had  been  taken  to 
secure  adequate  support,  but  again  the  town  troops 
failed  to  do  their  duty.  I  give  Colonel  FavielFs  report 
in  fuU. 

"  Report    on    Turkish    Attack    on    Binagadi   Hill 
ON  August   31,  1918. 

"  At  dawn  rifle  fire  was  heard  from  the  direction  of 
Binagadi  hill,  occupied  by  one  company  7th  North 
Staffords,  strength  eighty  all  ranks,  under  Lieutenant 
R.  L.  Petty,  M.C.,  who  reported  an  encounter  with  a  strong 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE   GATES         371 

enemy  patrol.  At  6  a.m.  a  second  report  was  received 
to  the  effect  that  the  enemy,  strength  about  500  rifles, 
was  massing  for  an  attack  at  the  foot  of  the  western  slopes 
of  Binagadi  hill.  Information  received  from  various 
sources  confirmed  the  report,  and  it  became  obvious  that 
an  enemy  attack  was  about  to  take  place. 

"  I  accordingly  ordered  Head  Quarters  and  one  com- 
pany Royal  Warwicks  at  Diga  to  move  to  the  centre  of 
Binagadi  oil  derricks  and  remain  there  in  reserve.     At 
the  same  time  I  asked  Colonel  Kazarov,  commanding  Right 
Section  to  move  the  armoured  train    to    Baladjari  and 
there  create  a  diversion  against  Mud  Volcano.     At  6  a.m. 
the  attack  developed,   supported    by  machine-guns  and 
about  twelve  field  and  mountain  guns.    The  machine-guns 
had  been  brought  under  cover  of  darkness  to  within  500 
yards  of  our  position,  and  so  placed  as  to  enfilade  our 
trenches.     These   machine-guns  were  placed  in  the  open 
behind  large  shields,  without  any  attempt  at  concealment. 
The  hill  was  swept  with  intense  machine-gun  fire  and  the 
defences  considerably  weakened  by  casualties,   and  the 
necessity  of  withdrawal,  unless  the  hill  could  be  reinforced, 
became  probable.     The  Russian  commander  was  asked 
for  support  which  was  eventually  given,  but  the  reinforc- 
ing troops  only  reached  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  position 
after  the  evacuation.     At  about  7.50  a.m.  Binagadi  hill 
became  untenable.     Lieutenant  Petty,  the  company  com- 
mander, had  been  killed,  and  to  avoid  complete  annihila- 
tion our  troops  at   8.30  a.m.  were  compelled  to  withdraw, 
and  fell  back  steadily  to  the  right  of  Warwick  Castle. 
The  Royal  Warwick  Company  from  Diga  arrived  too  late 
to  save  the  position.     At   11.5  a.m.   an  attack  against 
Warwick  Castle  developed.     The  loss  of    Binagadi  hill, 
together  with  the  failure  of  the  Armenian  battalions  in 
reserve  in  Binagadi  village  to  support  the  right,  exposed 
that  flank,  and  the  retirement  of  an  Armenian  battalion 
on  the  left   of   Warwick  Castle  left  both  flanks   of  the 


272    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

position  in  the  air,  a  weakness  of  which  the  enemy  took 
full  advantage,  and  he  soon  began  working  through 
the  rough  ground  round  the  position  to  within  forty 
yards  of  it,  compelling  the  withdrawal  of  the  garrison 
to  avoid  complete  isolation  and  capture. 

"  The  Royal  War  wicks  then  fell  back  steadily  to  the 
line  of  Binagadi  derricks,  thence  turning  north-east 
through  the  western  end  of  the  derricks.  Our  line  roughly 
was  then  from  Baladjari — running  north  towards  the 
eastern  end  of  Binagadi  derricks,  and  then  to  Biga, 
with  large  gaps   at  intervals. 

"  I  then  ordered  the  company  of  the  Royal  War  wicks 
in  reserve  to  occupy  the  line  of  Binagadi  derricks,  but 
they  only  succeeded  in  obtaining  possession  of  the  southern 
edge  of  the  line,  and  considering  the  line  unsatisfactory 
I  withdrew  them  to  a  more  southerly  position  about 
200  yards  clear  of  the  derricks.  Having  no  further 
reserves  at  my  disposal,  I  decided  that  it  was  impossible 
to  hold  the  line  with  the  troops  then  occupying  it,  and 
consequently  asked  permission  to  withdraw  to  the  line 
Baladjari  village  along  the  forward  railway  embankment 
to  the  western  edge  of  the  Darnagul  salt  lake.  Sanction 
having  been  obtained,  the  withdrawal  took  place  after 
dusk,  and  the  new  line  established.  Two  companies  of 
the  Royal  Warwicks  at  Diga  having  been  placed  under 
the  order  of  Major  Dayrell,  remained  at  Biga,  which 
place  was  attacked  the  same  evening,  for  which  opera- 
tions I  am  submitting  a  separate  report. 

"  Total  casualties  :  One  British  officer  killed  and 
one  British  officer  died  of  wounds,  thirty-four  British 
other  ranks  killed,  wounded  and  missing.  Reports 
received  as  to  enemy  casualties  all  agree  that  they  were 
very  considerable.  The  enemy  carried  out  the  attack 
with  vigour  and  determination.  Having  no  reserves 
under  my  hand  to  assist  the  garrison  at  Binagadi  hill, 
complete   annihilation   was   merely   a   question   of   time, 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE  GATES         273 

and  further   resistance   would   have  produced   no   other 
result." 

During  the  progress  of  the  action  described  above, 
I  came  across  Major  Engledue  with  one  of  the  town 
battalions.  The  moment  was  one  when,  without  even 
waiting  for  orders,  every  man  should  have  been  moving 
to  the  front,  yet  the  men  of  this  battalion  were  rapidly 
progressing  towards  the  town  with  their  backs  towards 
the  enemy.  Major  Engledue,  assisted  by  two  British 
N.C.O.'s,  was  vainly  endeavouring  to  stem  the  tide,  but 
with  no  great  success.  He  managed  at  last  to  get  them 
to  line  up  on  the  railway  embankment,  but  by  this  time 
two-thirds  of  the  men  were  already  well  on  their  way  into 
the  town.  This  oJSicer  remained  doing  splendid  work 
with  the  local  troops  till  the  end,  and  was  very  severely 
wounded  in  the  final  action  of  September  14th. 

The  result  of  the  day's  action  was  enough  to  fill  one 
with  despair.  I  returned  to  the  town,  spoke  with  the 
Commander-in-Chief  and  with  the  Dictators,  and  later 
embodied  my  remarks  in  the  following  letter  : 

"  To  the  Provisional  Government  of  Baku. 
**  (Copy  forwarded  to  the  Chief  of  the  Staff.) 

"  Sirs, 

"  I    feel    it    my    duty    to    put   before   you    my    i^ 
opinion  of  the  present  military  situation  in  Baku. 

"  To  begin  at  the  beginning.  You  are  aware  that  for 
six  months  I  was  looking  out  for  an  opportunity  of  helping 
Baku. 

"  Towards  the  end  of  July  the  Bolshevik  Government  of 
Baku  was  overthrown  and  I  was  invited  to  come  to  the     *• 
aid  of  the  town.     I  had  at  that  time  very  few  troops  at 
my  disposal,  and  of  those  not  many  could  be  spared  owing 
to  the  necessity  of  dealing  with  many  situations  in  Persia, 

Id 


274    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

including  the  movement  of  Kuchik  Khan.  I  arranged 
terms  of  peace  with  the  latter  and  sent  you  the  few  troops 
I  could.  I  then  wired  to  Baghdad  and  have  forwarded 
on  as  fast  as  possible  all  troops  as  they  arrived. 

"  It  must  be  remembered  that  Baghdad  is  900  versts 
from  Enzeli ;  the  road  is  not  good,  and  even  with  auto- 
mobiles reinforcements  cannot  move  quickly. 

"  I  took  it  that  the  situation  in  Baku  was  that  there 
were  perhaps  15,000  fighting  men,  scarcely  trained  at  all, 
but  armed  and  inspired  with  a  fierce  determination  to 
save  their  town.  I  therefore  regarded  the  proposition 
as  quite  favourable — with  a  nucleus  of  some  2,000  to 
3,000  regular  troops  and  some  artillery,  such  citizen 
soldiers  should  be  able  to  accomplish  a  good  deal  on  the 
pure  defensive. 

"  Unfortunately  the  Baku  authorities  apparently  ex- 
pected at  least  16,000  British  troops,  and,  lacking  military 
knowledge,  had  not  calculated  the  great  length  of  time 
necessary  to  convey  that  number  of  troops  with  stores, 
supplies,  ammunition,  equipment,  etc.,  a  distance  of  900 
versts.  They  expected  that  this  number  of  troops  would 
suffice  to  hold  the  town  with  an  active  defence  (as  indeed 
they  would),  while  the  Baku  citizen  army  retired  entirely 
from  the  front  line  and  occupied  itself  with  training  in 
the  rear.  The  result  has  been,  I  understand,  a  deep 
feeling  of  disappointment  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town,  and  a  sense  that  they  have  been  deceived 
by  their  English  Allies.  It  should  be  understood  by  all 
that  no  exact  number  of  troops  was  asked  for  or 
promised. 

"  The  Turks  are  not  merely  attacking  Baku,  but  are 
threatening  my  lines  of  communication  in  Persia,  advanc- 
ing towards  Hamadan  and  Kasvin  from  the  north-west, 
and  they  will  also  probably  succeed  in  making  Kuchik 
Khan  break  the  peace  I  have  lately  concluded  with  him. 
Thus  my  difficulties  of  reinforcing   Baku  are  very  much 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE  GATES         275 

increased,  and  troops  intended  for  us  have  had  to  be 
diverted  to  meet  the  various  Turkish  movements  towards 
the  Kasvin-Hamadan  road. 

"  At  the  present  moment  a  great  additional  reinforce- 
ment of  British  troops  is  not  to  be  expected,  owing  to  the 
Turkish  advance  from  the  west  on  my  line  of  communica- 
tion, and  in  the  end  it  is  possible  that  the  line  of  com- 
munication may  be  cut  and  we  shall  be  quite  isolated 
from  Baghdad. 

"  I  was  present  at  the  front  this  morning  during  the 
Turkish  attack  on  Binagadi  hill.  When  I  arrived  on  the 
scene,  large  numbers  of  Baku  soldiers  were  moving  in 
twos  and  threes  from  the  direction  of  the  enemy  back 
to  Baku.  Meanwhile  the  small  British  detachment  of 
seventy  men  held  on  to  the  position  and  asked  for  a 
counter-attack  by  the  Baku  troops  in  reserve  in  the  village 
of  Binagadi.  To  bring  off  such  a  counter-attack  was  not 
difficult,  and  it  was  certain  of  success,  but  nothing  happened, 
and  my  troops  had  to  retire  and  yield  the  position  to  the 
enemy.  I  believe  a  few  troops  did  move  forward,  but 
nothing  really  serious  w^as  afforded  in  the  shape  of  support. 

"  Under  such  conditions  it  will  shortly  be  necessary 
to  withdraw  the  line  of  defence  to  the  high  ground  just 
south  of  the  railway  line.  This  will  shorten  the  line 
considerably,  but  has  the  disadvantage  of  being  the  last 
stronghold,  from  which  any  retirement  means  the  surrender 
of  the  town.  It  also  gives  the  Turks  full  possession  of 
the  whole  Baku  peninsula  north  and  east  of  the  town, 
and  enables  them  to  shell  the  town  at  their  pleasure 
from  three  directions. 

"  Still,  even  in  this  position  the  actual  town  and  port 
can  be  saved,  but  only  if  the  Baku  troops  develop,  what 
they  do  not  now  possess,  the  spirit  to  fight  and  the  determina- 
tion not  to  yield.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  these  retirements 
are  to  continue  every  time  your  troops  come  under  fire,  the 
further  defence  of  Baku  is  a  waste  of  time  and  life. 


276    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  I  am  willing  with  my  troops  to  continue  the  defence 
to  the  bitter  end,  but  it  is  quite  hopeless  to  endeavour  to 
do  so  with  troops  who  have  no  intention  of  fighting. 

"Baku,  August  31,  1918." 

In  the  afternoon  I  received  an  invitation  from  General 
Dukuchaiev  to  be  present  at  8  p.m.  at  a  Council  of  War. 
I  replied  that  I  was  not  in  favour  of  such  councils,  but  if 
it  was  decided  to  hold  one  I  should  be  glad  to  be  present. 

Accordingly  at  8  p.m.  I  presented  myself  at  the  Govern- 
ment offices,  accompanied  by  Colonel  Clutterbuck  and 
Captain  Bray,  Colonel  Stokes  was  also  present  as  Chief 
of  the  Staff  to  General  Dukuchaiev. 

I  found  the  Commander-in-Chief  seated  at  the  central 
table  with  maps  spread  before  him,  and  he  offered  me  a  seat 
at  his  side.  The  entire  room  was  filled  with  the  members 
of  the  various  committees.  The  Armenian  National 
Council  was  there  in  full  force,  the  five  Dictators,  Work- 
men's Delegates,  Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Delegates,  and 
Peasant  Deputies.  It  did  not  appear  likely  that  a  Council 
of  War  held  on  these  lines  was  going  to  achieve  anything 
useful. 

The  proceedings  commenced  by  General  Dukuchaiev 
giving  a  very  clear  but  lengthy  appreciation  of  the 
situation,  his  remarks  being  punctuated  by  interpellations 
of  assent  or  disapproval  from  the  members  of  the  various 
committees.  He  was,  however,  permitted  to  conclude 
his  address  without  serious  interruption,  and  he  finally 
summed  up  his  remarks  by  saying,  "  The  enemy  have 
taken  A  and  B,  and  will  probably  next  move  on  to  C, 
which  will  render  D  untenable,  etc.  I  therefore  propose 
to  alter  the  whole  line  as  follows  ..." 

Before  the  concluding  remarks  were  out  of  his  mouth, 
a  burly  sailor  arose  and  strode  up  to  the  table  to  give  his 
views  of  the  situation.  He  made  use  of  the  General's 
map,  indicating  points  as  required  by  the  use  of  his  broad 


THE  ENEMY  WITHIN  THE  GATES         277 

thumb,  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  his  thumb  covered  more 
than  a  square  mile  of  country,  leaving  his  points  rather 
vague.  He  spoke  for  an  hour  with  obvious  enjoyment, 
repeating  himself  a  good  deal  and  wandering  off  the  track 
every  now  and  then  to  work  in  some  well-worn  tag,  or 
to  give  vent  to  some  such  sentiment  as  "  We  will  fight 
to  the  very  last  drop  of  our  blood,"  which  produced 
vociferous  applause.  He  eventually  arrived,  in  the  correct 
manner,  at  his  summing-up,  which  was  the  exact  contrary 
of  that  of  the  Commander-in-Chief,  and  he  suggested  plans 
of  action  which  were  the  reverse  of  those  outlined  by 
the  Commander-in-Chief,  and  urged  the  taking  up  of 
a  line  totally  different  to  that  advocated  by  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief. 

His  final  peroration  was  to  the  following  effect :  "  The 
Greneral  says  the  Turks  are  holding  such  and  such  points. 
That  is  not  so,  their  line  runs  thus  (describing  the  enemy's 
imaginary  line  with  considerable  detail).  He  says  we  have 
had  to  give  up  B.  That  is  not  so.  I  have  just  had 
a  telephone  message  from  a  friend  of  mine  out  there. 
The  General  says  we  must  take  up  such  and  such  a  line. 
He  is  quite  wrong.  That  is  not  the  line  to  take  up.  This 
is  the  one  (more  detail).  His  counsel  is  not  that  of  a 
brave  man.     We  mean  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end,  etc." 

To  my  surprise  the  General  in  no  way  resented  this 
amateur  interference  with  his  plans,  in  fact  he  seemed  to 
think  there  was  a  good  deal  in  what  the  sailor  said. 

When  this  speaker  had  reluctantly  resumed  his  seat, 
the  Armenian  National  Council  had  their  say,  proposing 
plans  neither  agreeing  with  those  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  nor  with  those  of  the  sailor.  After  them  the  Dictators 
had  quite  a  fresh  plan  to  propose,  differing  from  all  the 
others.  The  Dictators  were  followed  by  other  speakers, 
each  with  his  own  views  to  put  forward,  and  each  inspired 
by  a  desire  to  continue  talking  as  long  as  his  breath  held 
out. 


278    THE   ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

So  time  went  on  till  the  clock  struck  one  and  my 
patience  was  exhausted.  How  long  the  meeting  continued 
I  do  not  know,  but  having  decided  that  it  was  quite  time 
for  my  Staff  and  myself  to  be  in  bed,  I  apologized  quietly 
to  the  Commander-in-Chief  and  withdrew,  leaving  the 
assembly  to  continue  their  futile  discussions. 


CHAPTER    XVI 
THE   SHADOW  OF   COMING   EVENTS 

ON  the  following  day,  September  1st,  I  talked  over 
the  situation  with  General  Lewin,  who  was  on  tour 
from  Baghdad  and  was  returning  that  day,  and  decided 
that  a  further  continuance  of  the  defence  of  Baku  must 
be  given  up  and  the  British  Garrison  withdrawn. 

I  accordingly  sent  a  message  round  to  the  Dictators 
and  the  various  committees  asking  them  to  meet  me  in 
the  Hotel  d'Europe  at  4  p.m.,  when  I  would  have  a  very 
important  communication  to  make  to  them. 

At  the  hour  named  the  various  committees  had 
assembled  and  I  addressed  them  as  follows  : 

"  What  I  have  to  say  can  be  said  in  a  very  few  words. 
No  power  on  earth  can  save  Baku  from  the  Turks.  To 
continue  the  defence  means  only  to  defer  the  evil  moment 
and  to  cause  further  needless  loss  of  life.  Up  till  now  my 
men  have  done  all  the  fighting.  In  each  action,  in  spite 
of  the  bravery  of  my  soldiers,  the  Turks  have  succeeded 
in  capturing  each  position,  owing  to  the  lack  of  support 
from  local  troops.  I  will  not  allow  my  men's  lives  to  be 
thrown  away  in  vain  in  this  manner.  We  came  here  to 
help  your  men  to  fight  the  Turks,  not  to  do  all  the  fighting, 
with  your  men  as  onlookers.  In  no  case  have  I  seen  your 
troops  when  ordered  to  attack  do  anything  but  retire,  and 
it  is  hopeless  continuing  to  fight  alongside  of  such  men. 

279 


280    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  I  am  about  to  give  orders  to  withdraw  my  men  from 
the  firing  line  and  I  shall  move  them  from  Baku  to-night. 
I  have  invited  you  here  to  give  you  this  warning,  so  that 
you  may  be  able  to  fill  the  gaps  in  the  line  caused  by  the 
withdrawal  of  my  men.  You  would  be  best  advised  to 
send  out  a  party  at  once  with  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  enemy 
and  see  what  terms  you  can  make  with  him.  You  will 
have  no  difiiculty  in  securing  terms  which  will  enable 
you  to  get  your  women-folk  away,  and  you  will  at  the 
worst  be  able  to  bring  about  a  better  condition  of  ajffairs 
than  will  be  the  case  if  you  wait  till  the  Turks  and  the 
Tartars  take  the  town  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet.  I 
beg  you  will  forego  your  usual  custom  of  speech -making 
and  the  passing  of  resolutions  ;  this  is  a  time  to  act  and  not 
to  talk.  Every  man  in  this  town  knows  and  feels  the  truth 
of  what  I  have  said  ;  what  then  will  be  the  use  of  prolonged 
discussions  ?  I  will  leave  you  here,  however,  to  make 
what  decisions  you  like,  and  will  return  in  an  hour  when 
I  hope  you  will  have  completed  your  deliberations." 

While  I  was  making  this  speech  I  noticed  expressions 
of  doubt,  horror,  despair,  and  in  some  cases  rage  and 
hatred  on  the  faces  of  my  listeners.  They  seemed  abso- 
lutely thunderstruck,  as  if  the  idea  of  the  possible  fall  of 
Baku  was  being  put  before  them  for  the  first  time.  As  I 
spoke  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  British  detachment, 
Yarmakov  sprang  from  his  chair  and  left  the  room.  I 
begged  Major  McDonnell  to  follow  him  and  watch  him. 
He  was  always  a  man  of  action  and  capable  of  making 
a  quick  decision,  and  I  knew  he  had  gone  to  the  telephone 
to  call  up  the  gunboats  to  open  fire  on  our  ships  if  we 
attempted  to  leave  the  port. 

During  the  next  hour  I  visited  General  Bogratuni,  the 
War  Minister,  and  found  he  had  nothing  to  say  against 
my  proposal  to  withdraw  my  troops,  beyond  begging 
that  I  would  not  do  so. 


THE   SHADOW   OF  COMING   EVENTS        281 

When  I  returned  to  the  hotel  I  found  the  various 
committees  all  passing  resolutions  as  fast  as  they  could. 
I  begged  of  them  to  cease  the  resolutions  and  take  some 
action,  and  again  left  them.  In  another  hour  I  returned 
and  found  a  sailor  just  putting  the  fourteenth  resolution 
to  the  vote.  After  that  it  appeared  certain  that  no  action 
would  be  taken  that  day.  Under  such  conditions  I  could 
not,  in  fairness  to  the  town,  carry  out  the  immediate 
withdrawal  of  my  troops,  and  they  remained  in  their 
position.  I  sent,  however,  a  warning  note  to  the 
Dictators,   to   which  I  received  this  reply  : 


''September  1,  1918.     No.  34,  Baku. 
"  From  the  Provisional  Dictatorship  of  the  Centro-Caspian. 
"  To  Major-General  Dunsterville,  British   Army  Staff. 

"  We  beg  to  inform  you,  in  reply  to  your  letter  of 
the  1st  inst.,  that  the  British  troops  can  only  be  per- 
mitted to  leave  Baku  at  the  same  time  as  our  own  troops 
and  on  the  same  terms,  and  only  after  evacuation  of  the 
town  by  non-combatants. 

"  Signed  by  six  members  of  the  Prov.  Dictatorship  of 
the  Centro-Caspian  and  the  Presidium  of  the  Provisional 
Executive  Committee. 

"  Signed  by  the  Secretary  (illegible).'' 

On  September  2nd  and  3rd,  the  Turks  showed  little 
signs  of  activity,  and  our  troops  remained  in  their  previous 
position,  but  from  this  moment  everything  was  prepared 
for  an  immediate  evacuation,  and  only  the  word  "  go  " 
was  necessary  to  set  the  whole  scheme  working. 

On  September  3rd  I  addressed  the  following  letter  to 
the  Commander-in-Chief  : 


282    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

"  To  General  Dukuchaiev.     (Copy  to  Dictators.) 

"  I  learn  with  regret  that  the  decision  adopted  on 
September  1st  by  the  majority  of  those  interested  in  the 
fate  of  Baku  was  overridden  by  some  of  the  young  members 
of  the  Dictatorship.  The  members  responsible  for  this 
decision,  in  opposition  to  the  more  experienced  leaders, 
do  not  perhaps  realize  the  future  tragedy  for  which 
they  have  made  themselves  responsible. 

"  The  plan  I  put  forward  was  with  a  view  of  saving  the 
large  population  of  women  and  children  from  needless 
massacre,  a  result  it  would  have  achieved.  The  present 
course  of  action  will,  I  fear,  end  in  a  sauve  qui  pent. 

"  So  many  miracles  have  so  far  occurred  in  our  favour 
that  we  may  have  perhaps  even  more,  but  nothing  less 
than  a  miracle  can  save  the  town  from  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  And  when  it  does  fall  there  will  be 
no  further  warning.  A  successful  attack  from  the  north- 
west would  bring  the  Turks  into  the  town  before  the 
inhabitants  were  aware  of  their  proximity. 

"  The  danger  point  now  is  the  right  angle  formed  north 
and  west  of  Baladjari  Station.  It  seems  to  me  now 
clearly  indicated  that  this  is  where  the  final  Turkish  attack 
will  be  made,  while  their  cavalry  will  possibly  endeavour 
to  come  round  our  extreme  right.  No  one  can  foresee 
military  events  with  certainty,  and  the  attack  may  come 
elsewhere,  but  this  is  a  point  where  large  reserves  are 
necessary. 

"  As  regards  my  own  troops,  I  am  glad  to  have  the 
honour  of  accepting  your  orders  tactically,  as  long  as  my 
troops  are  not  cut  up  into  small  detachments.  But  as 
I  understand  that  your  war  plans  are  controlled  by  the 
Dictators,  young  men  of  no  war  experience,  I  must  decline 
to  carry  out  any  movements  which  I  consider  injudicious. 

"  With  regard  to  the  very  curt  reply  of  the  Dictators 
concerning  the  withdrawal  of  my  troops,  I  do  not  consider 


THE   SHADOW   OF   COMING   EVENTS        283 

the  command  of  my  troops  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Dic- 
tators, nor  do  I  intend  further  to  waste  the  lives  of  my 
men  by  allowing  them  to  hold  on  to  positions  when  not 
supported,  and  when  units  on  their  flanks  retire. 

"  I  have  therefore  instructed  my  commander  at  the 
front  to  use  his  own  discretion  and  to  withdraw  his 
troops  entirely  from  the  fighting  line  when   he  thinks  fit. 

"  This  is  the  second  time  that  I  have  spoken  to  this 
effect,  and  when  the  time  comes  it  will  not  be  possible 
to  give  you  any  further  warning." 

On  September  4th  I  received  this  interesting  communi- 
cation from  the  Baku   Government : 

To  Major-General  Dunsterville,  British  Army. 

"  Your  Excellency. 

"  Your  letter  to  the  Dictatorship,  dated  the 
3 1st  August,  and  your  own  and  your  assistants'  verbal 
statements  that  Baku  will  have  to  be  surrendered,  that 
beyond  the  number  of  British  troops  already  forming 
your  army  you  are  unable  to  give  *  a  single  soldier,'  and 
finally  your  letter  to  General  Dukuchaiev  of  the  3rd 
September,  compel  the  Dictatorship  of  Baku  to  inform 
you  in  your  capacity  of  Commander  of  the  British  Forces 
and  representative  of  the  British  Government  at  Baku  as 
follows  : 

"  When  we  entered  into  a  military  agreement  with  you 
We  assumed  joint  responsibility  with  you  for  the 
preservation  of  the  town  and  district  of  Baku,  both  for 
the  Russian  Republic  and  for  the  common  front  of  the 
Allies. 

"  Our  alliance  with  you  led  to  a  rupture  with  the  Bol- 
shevik power  in  Russia.  The  supply  of  fighting  men, 
ammunition  and  materiel,  foodstuffs  and  other  commo- 
dities to  Baku  had  ceased  altogether.  You  are,  we  trust, 
not  aware  that  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Bolshevik  power 


284    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

in  Baku,  the  representatives  of  Lenin's  Government  were 
willing  to  acknowledge  a  Coalition  Government  in  Baku, 
to  supply  soldiers,  ammunition  and  materiel,  etc.,  and  to 
afEord  us  active  assistance  in  the  defence  of  Baku  on 
one  condition,  viz.  the  withdrawal  of  British  troops 
FROM  Baku  and  district. 

"  We  were  unable  to  accept  this  condition.  We  believed 
that  in  order  to  save  Baku,  to  secure  a  democratic  peace 
in  Europe,  to  bring  about  the  annulling  of  the  degrading 
peace  of  Brest,  and  to  upset  the  plans  of  conquest  formed 
by  Germany  and  her  Allies,  concerted  action  with  you 
was  necessary. 

"  We  considered  therefore  (and  in  this  respect  we  based 
our  conclusions  on  our  negotiations  with  you  and  on  your 
own  and  your  Government's  declarations  and  announce- 
ments), that  you  would  bring  to  Baku  a  sufficient  force, 
not  only  to  relieve  the  town  from  siege,  but  even  to  clear 
the  enemy  out  of  Trans-Caucasia  which  has  been  torn 
from  the  Russian  Republic. 

**  Unhappily  we  were  mistaken.  During  a  period  of 
more  than  a  month  to  the  3rd  September  you  have 
transferred  to  Baku  little  more  than  one  thousand 
MEN,  with  six  guns  and  some  other  technical  items. 

"  Leaving  on  one  side  the  question  of  the  force  required 
to  drive  the  enemy  out  of  Trans-Caucasia,  the  assistance 
supplied  by  you  is  totally  inadequate  even  for  the 
purpose  of  compelling  the  enemy  to  raise  the  siege  of  Baku. 

"  Whatever  explanation  may  be  forthcoming  of  the 
inadequacy  of  the  support  you  have  rendered,  however 
excellent  the  military  behaviour  and  technical  equipment 
of  your  Baku  detachment,  we  consider  it  necessary  to 
inform  you  (and  we  request  you  to  communicate  our 
views  to  your  Government)  that  you  have  not  rendered 
the  aid  which  we  were  entitled  to  expect  of  you, 
on  the  grounds  of  your  own  pronouncements  and  declara- 
tions and  those  of  the  representatives  of  your  Government. 


THE  SHADOW  OF  COMING  EVENTS        285 

"  Moreover,  having  in  view  the  terms  as  offered  to  us 
by  Lenin's  Government,  we  assert  that  your  forces  have 
not  only  failed  to  augment  but  have  actually  reduced 
the  defensive  strength  of  Baku,  on  which  we  might  have 
relied  had  we  accepted  the  terms  of  the  Bolshevik 
party. 

*'  In  view  of  the  foregoing  we  insist  that  yof  immedi- 
ately   TRANSFER    SUFFICIENT    REAL    FORCES    FROM    PERSIA 

OR  Baghdad.  We  consider  this  assistance  indispensable 
FOR  us  AND  OBLIGATORY  ON  YOU.  In  the  expectation 
of  this  assistance  (we  also  expect  reinforcements  from 
Bicherakov  in  Petrovsk  and  the  North  Caucasus)  we  con- 
sider it  imperative  to  sustain  the  attacks  of  the  Turkish 
Army  for  the  next  few  days. 

"  We  trust  that  in  this  we  shall  be  successful.  We 
reject  the  suggestion  to  surrender  the  town  to  the  enemy, 
and  are  surprised  at  your  insistence  in  urging  such  a 
course.  We  are  imbued  with  the  sense  of  the  imperative 
necessity  to  fight  to  the  end,  to  the  last  possibility.  We 
are  convinced  that  your  small,  but  in  every  respect 
admirable,  detachment  will  do  its  duty  and  share  our 
common  fate.  United  by  the  bond  of  a  common  pur- 
pose,   WE     MUST    AND    SHALL     BE    TOGETHER.      Either    We 

win,  or  if  history  decides  we  perish  together. 

"  Your  letter  to  General  Dukuchaiev  was  based  on  a 
misconception.  You  suggest  the  surrender  of  the  town. 
We  value  your  experience  very  highly,  but  we  hold  that 
the  suggestion  of  surrender  is  inadmissible  and  that  all 
possible  means  have  not  yet  been  exhausted.  Such  being 
the  case,  your  detachment  must  operate  in  contact  with 
the  whole  of  the  Baku  army,  of  which  it  constitutes  part. 
The  commander  of  your  forces  must  act  under  the  general 
operative  control  of  the  commander  of  the  Baku  army. 
In  no  case  can  he  be  permitted  to  *  act  on  his  own  initi- 
ative and  to  withdraw  his  troops  from  the  firing  line,' 
as  you  say  in  your  letter  of  the  3rd  September,  *  whenever 


286    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

he  may  consider  it  necessary.'     There  is  a  fundamental 
principle  of  military  wisdom  ;    Unity  of  action — Unity 

OF   CONTROL. 

"  We  trust  that  your  military  experience  and  the  excel- 
lent organization  of  the  British  Army  will  not  only  enable 
us  in  these  difficult  days  to  realize  such  unity  of  action, 
but  will  furthermore  create  such  conditions  in  our  army, 
feebly  organized  as  it  is  and  deficient  in  training  and 
officers,  yet  prepared  to  lay  down  its  life,  as  will  enable  it 
to  offer  effective  resistance  to  the  enemy's  attempts  to 
take  the  town. 

"  In  conclusion  we  beg  to  point  out  that  the  Dicta- 
torship has  no  intention  whatever  *  to  command  your 
detachment '  or  to  influence  military  operations.  The 
Dictatorship  of  the  Centro-Caspian  and  Ispolkom  (Execu- 
tive Committee)  represents  the  supreme  power  in  Baku, 
pending  the  assembling  of  the  Baku  Council  of  Workmen, 
Soldiers'  and  Sailors'  Deputies,  and  has  appointed  suit- 
able and  trained  specialists  (the  Commander  of  the  Force 
and  the  Chief  of  the  Staff  at  the  front  and  the  Military 
and  Naval  Commissary  at  the  rear)  to  the  office  of  directing 
the  fighting  forces,  to  whom  is  entrusted  the  control  of 
the  military  operations  of  the  army  and  who,  we  trust, 
with  your  direct  co-operation,  will  carry  out  firmly  and 
energetically,  the  only  military  demand  of  the  Dictator- 
ship, viz.  the  defence  of  the  town  at  all  costs  from  the 
Turks,  until  such  time  as  the  necessary  reinforcements  are 
forthcoming,  whether  from  your  side  or  other  parts  of 
Russia,  and  thus  strengthen  the  common  fighting  front  of 
the  Allies  against  the  armies  of  the  Turko- German 
coalition. 

"  (Signed)    President  of  the  Dictatorship  : 

H.   TUSHOFF, 

Vice-President,  Members  and  Secretary. 
(Signatures  illegible.)  " 


THE  SHADOW  OF  COMING  EVENTS        287 

Judged  purely  on  its  merits  as  a  literary  effort 
this  letter  could  hardly  be  improved  on,  but  judged 
from  the  standpoint  of  facts  its  merits  are  entirely 
lacking. 

The  narrative  up  to  this  point  will  enable  the  reader 
to  see  for  himself  the  fallacies  on  which  most  of  the  argu- 
ments are  based,  but  I  will  single  out  the  most  important 
ones. 

The  statement  of  their  basing  their  expectation  of 
more  substantial  aid  on  the  grounds  of  my  pronounce- 
ments is  entirely  refuted  by  my  letter  to  Dr.  Araratiantz 
in  Chapter  XH. 

As  to  the  Dictators  not  desiring  to  command  my  troops, 
the  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  although  they  had  appointed 
a  Commander-in-Chief,  they  interfered  in  all  military 
matters,  even  going  to  the  length  of  issuing  orders  direct 
to  the  town  troops  and  sending  indents  for  ammunition 
required  at  certain  points  direct  to  the  arsenal. 

Finally,  the  statement  to  the  effect  that  the  Baku 
army  was  prepared  to  lay  down  its  life  was  as  far  from 
the  truth  as  any  statement  is  capable  of  being.  Had  the 
Baku  army  been  inspired  by  any  such  feeling,  the  defence 
of  the  town  would  have  been  easy,  and  we  could  have 
driven  the  Turks  back  to  Tiflis.  But  I  have  already 
given  a  few  examples,  out  of  the  many  that  occurred 
daily,  showing  that  to  "  lay  down  its  life  "  was  just 
exactly  what  the  Baku  army  was  unanimously  determined 
not  to  do. 

Before  receiving  this  letter,  I  had  already  sent  the 
following  communication  to  the  Dictators  : 

"  Dictators. 

**  As  it  is  essential  to  any  form  of  success  that  allies 
should  work  together  in  friendly  harmony  (and  I  regret 
to  state  that  since  my  arrival  here  the  Government  have 


\y 


288    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

never  ceased  to  regard  the  whole  of  my  work  in  a  most 
unfriendly  way),  I  think  it  advisable  to  forward  for  perusal 
copies  of  certain  dispatches,  the  originals  of  which  may 
be  seen  in  my  office  on  application  to  me. 

"  My  contemplated  withdrawal  of  my  troops  in  the  last 
extremity  has  been  also  regarded  as  a  dishonourable  act. 
I  wish  to  point  out  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not 
studied  war  and  who  do  not  know  the  rules  of  war  that 
it  is  the  first  duty  of  every  commander  to  avoid  needless 
sacrifice  of  lives  when  a  situation  is  hopeless,  to  avoid 
surrendering  his  troops  to  the  enemy  and  to  place  them 
in  a  fresh  position  whence  they  may  be  able  to  continue 
their  general  operations  against  the  enemy. 

"  It  is  said  that  by  failing  to  send  a  larger  detachment 
here  the  British  have  betrayed  the  town  of  Baku.  This 
cannot  for  a  moment  be  admitted.  In  the  face  of  immense 
difficulties,  and  at  the  sacrifice  of  their  plans  elsewhere, 
the  British  responded  to  your  appeal  for  help,  and  sent 
to  you  every  man  they  could  spare.  For  three  weeks  the 
British  troops  have  borne  the  brunt  of  attacks  by  over- 
whelming numbers,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they 
have  fought  with  courage,  and  have  freely  given  their 
lives  for  you.  Their  presence  here  has  at  least  postponed 
the  evil  day  of  the  fall  of  Baku,  and  in  the  last  event  I 
am  confident  that  it  will  enable  you  to  make  better 
terms  with  the  enemy  than  you  could  otherwise  have 
done. 

"  With  this  explanation,  together  with  my  letter  of 
August  31st,  I  trust  the  whole  matter  may  be  made  quite 
clear  and  that  we  may  avoid  misunderstanding  in  future. 
The  enemy  has  agents  among  you  even  of  your  own 
nationality,  whose  one  task  is  to  sow  discord  between  us. 
Do  not  let  them  succeed.'* 

The  whole  correspondence  was  closed  by  the  following 
letter,  which  I  dispatched  on  September  5,  1918  : 


THE   SHADOW  OF  COMING  EVENTS        289 

"  To  the  Dictators  of  the  Centro-Caspian  Government, 

"  Gentlemen, 

"  I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  4th  September, 
the  contents  of  which  I  have  transmitted  to  the  High 
Command  in  Baghdad. 

"  Since  writing,  you  will  have  received  my  letter  of  the 
same  date,  with  extracts  from  telegrams  which  I  trust 
will  completely  remove  any  misconception  as  to  what 
my  attitude  has  been. 

"  I  am  fully  in  agreement  with  all  that  you  say  as  to 
the  importance  of  saving  Baku,  and  I  have  never  ceased 
to  impress  this  view  on  my  Government.     I  am  bound  to 
point  out,  however,  that  your  view  of  the  conduct  of  the 
British    Government    in    failing    to    provide    a    sufficient 
force  to  raise  the  seige  of  Baku  is  based  on  a  fallacy. 
Neither  I  nor  my  Government  have  ever  declared  that 
we  could  bring  to  Baku  a  sufficient  force  to  save  Baku 
unaided.     On  the  contrary,  we  were  led  to  believe  that 
Baku  already  possessed  a  fighting  force  of  at  least  10,000 
men,  who  only  required  organization  and  a  backing  of 
a  small  British  force  to  render  them  capable  of  defeating 
the  enemy.     I  have  no  desire  to  belittle  the  bravery  of 
the  men  of  Baku,  still  less  to  enter  into  a  controversy 
with  you  on  the  subject ;    and  in  saying  that  neither  in 
discipline  nor  in  steadiness  under  fire  have    they   come 
up  to  my  expectations,  I  refer  to  this  matter  for  the  last 
time. 

"  It  now  remains  for  us  to  face  the  situation  together, 
and  to  do  our  best  to  meet  it  with  the  means  at  our  disposal. 
I  have  submitted  to  your  Minister  of  War  a  proposal  for 
the  organization  of  the  Baku  forces  in  brigades,  which  I 
am  confident  will  lead  to  good  results.  If  you  see  any 
objections  to  the  proposal,  I  trust  that  you  will  tell  me 
frankly  what  they  are. 

'*The     promise    of     reinforcements    from    Petrovsk, 

20 


290    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

together  with  a  thorough  reorganization  and  the  infusion 
of  a  new  spirit  into  the  Baku  troops,  may  temporarily 
put  a  new  complexion  on  the  situation.  But  it  is  still 
my  duty  to  warn  you  that  the  chance  of  saving  Baku  by 
military  force  is  very  remote.  I  have  reliable  information 
that  the  Turks  and  Germans  are  sending  very  large  rein- 
forcements, including  aeroplanes  and  heavy  guns,  to  their 
army  before  Baku  ;  and  I  put  it  to  you  in  terms  of  the 
strongest  recommendation  that  you  should  urge  on  the 
evacuation  of  your  women  and  children  by  every  means 
in  your  power. 

"  Baku, 

''September  5,   1918." 

The  foregoing  extracts  from  the  correspondence  which 
passed  between  myself  and  the  Baku  Government  will 
give  a  very  clear  idea  of  the  situation  in  that  town  in  the 
first  week  of  September  1918. 

Before  I  finally  quit  this  subject  of  the  Baku  Govern- 
ment, the  military  command  and  the  peculiarities  of 
revolutionaries  in  general,  I  wish  to  make  it  quite  clear 
that  I  have  no  intention  of  belittling  their  laudable  efforts 
or  of  making  fun  of  their  troubles.  The  ridiculous  situa- 
tions I  have  described  would  presumably  take  place  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree  in  any  revolution  in  any  country. 

It  is  extremely  easy  to  break  down  an  existing  form 
of  government,  but  to  build  up  anything  substantial  in 
its  place  is  a  matter  of  considerable  difficulty  ;  and  a 
long  period  of  disorder  must  ensue  during  which  the  best 
efforts  of  the  best  men  will  not  suffice  to  prevent  ridiculous 
situations  from  arising.  The  military  staff  could  not  be 
expected  to  accomplish  much  more  than  they  did  with 
untrained  troops  and  with  no  powers  of  enforcing  discipline. 
The  young  men  who  composed  the  Dictatorate  were  keen, 
intelligent  and  enthusiastic.  In  many  ways  they  achieved 
remarkable  successes. 


THE  SHADOW  OF  COMING  EVENTS        291 

While  all  previously  existing  laws  were  in  abeyance, 
the  maintenance  of  order  among  the  citizens  of  Baku  was 
remarkable,  and  the  difficult  task  of  rationing  the  popula- 
tion was  dealt  with  courageously. 

On  September  6th  a  shell  intended  for  our  Head 
Quarters  fell  a  hundred  yards  short  and  set  fire  to  a  house 
in  the  adjoining  street.  In  five  minutes  the  fire  engines 
were  at  work,  the  firemen  being  smartly  turned  out  and 
as  efficient  as  in  any  town  in  Europe.  The  fire  was  quickly 
got  under,  and  by  that  time  the  fire  brigade  received  an 
urgent  summons  to  another  quarter  of  the  town,  to  which 
they  responded  with  equal  alacrity.  This  episode  struck 
me  as  showing  a  very  marked  advance  towards  the  restora- 
tion of  general  order  in  the  town. 

During  the  week  from  September  5th  to  September 
12th  good  progress  was  made  in  training  of  troops,  but 
discipline  still  remained  weak,  and  troops  dispatched  to 
take  up  certain  positions  in  the  line  often  failed  to  reach 
their  destination.  The  enemy  contented  himself  with 
minor  operations  carried  out  with  a  view  of  discovering 
our  weak  points,  and  with  very  frequent  shelling  of  the 
town. 

We  had  now  two  Russian  hydroplanes  and  two  of 
our  own  aeroplanes  at  work,  and  as  the  enemy  possessed 
no  aircraft  this  should  have  given  us  a  great  advantage 
over  him.  But  September  is  the  month  of  hot  winds 
and  dust-storms  in  Baku,  and  the  advantages  we  might 
have  gained  from  aerial  observation  were  nullified  by  the 
bad  weather  conditions. 

We  had  six  armoured  cars  in  action,  three  of  our  own, 
and  three  Russian  under  Captain  the  Marquis  d'Albizzi, 
all  of  which  did  extremely  good  work. 

On  September  12th  an  Arab  deserted  to  us  from  the 
Turks,  and  from  the  information  we  obtained  from  him 
we  gathered  that  the  enemy  were  preparing  for  a  great 
assault  on   September   14th.     This  information  was  ex- 


292    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

tremely  useful,  as  it  enabled  us  to  have  all  our  troops  on 
the  ground,  whereas  on  ordinary  occasions  a  certain 
proportion  were  always  employed  on  various  detached 
duties.  But  our  informant  was  unwilling  or  unable  to 
give  any  exact  information  as  to  where  the  attack  would 
fall,  and  we  had  therefore  to  make  dispositions  with  our 
very  small  number  of  troops  to  meet  an  attack  on  a  large 
scale  on  any  part  of  a  14-mile  front.  The  Arab  certainly 
made  suggestions  about  our  left  being  the  point  of  attack, 
and  that  flank  was  accordingly  strengthened  ;  but  it  was 
impossible  to  rely  on  his  rather  vague  assertions,  nor  was 
it  likely  that  he  would  be  in  possession  of  such  information 
which  would  certainly  be  kept  secret  by  the  enemy  Head 
Quarters  till  the  last  moment. 

The  warning  as  to  the  probability  of  an  attack  on 
the  following  day  came  just  in  time  to  enable  me  to  keep 
back  Colonel  Rawlinson,  who  was  to  have  left  on  September 
13th  for  Lenkoran,  whence  he  was  to  carry  out  a  raid  in 
Ford  cars  on  the  enemy's  lines  of  communications  north 
of  the  Mughan  Steppe.  The  intention  was  to  destroy  a 
bridge  on  the  Tiflis  line  and  so  cut  the  railway  in  the  rear 
of  the  Caucasus-Islam  Army.  Colonel  Rawlinson  had 
made  very  careful  preparation  for  this  task,  and  I  am 
convinced  that  it  would  have  met  with  success  had  time 
allowed  of  its  being  undertaken. 

A  slight  increase  to  our  garrison  had  recently  been 
received  in  the  shape  of  500  men  with  ten  machine-guns 
sent  by  Bicherakov,  with  a  promise  of  more  as  soon  as 
he  could  arrange  for  dispatch.  These  men  were  not  of 
his  best  troops,  in  fact  they  were  mostly  composed  of 
Baku  men  whom  he  had  taken  north  with  him  in  August, 
and  who  were  now  merely  returning  to  their  homes,  but 
their  training  and  discipline  was  superior  to  that  of  the 
local  forces,  and  they  were  a  welcome  addition  to  the 
garrison. 

It  was  certain  that  during  the  ensuing  fight  and  possible 


THE   SHADOW  OF  COMING  EVENTS        293 

withdrawal  telephones  would  play  a  large  part.  We  were 
well  equipped  with  these,  and  Major  Pulverman,  who 
had  been  in  charge  of  our  signalling  arrangements  for 
the  last  six  months,  was  busy  throughout  the  day  and 
during  the  next  day's  fighting  in  keeping  the  lines  in 
working  order.  Both  he  and  Captain  Foxlee  were  experts 
at  their  work,  and  the  success  of  the  final  evacuation  is 
due  in  a  great  measure  to  their  being  able  to  keep  com- 
munication going  up  to  the  last  moment. 

Our  aeroplanes  had  during  the  last  week  been  able, 
in  the  occasional  lulls  in  the  dust-storms,  to  observe  the 
enemy's  movements,  and  their  reports  were  to  the  effect 
that  a  large  number  of  troop  trains  were  constantly  arriving 
from  the  west,  from  which  it  became  increasingly  clear 
that  considerable  Turkish  reinforcements  were  arriving. 
In  spite  of  this  the  Dictators  persisted  in  clinging  to  the 
fanciful  idea  that  the  Turks  were  evacuating  ! 

Up  to  the  very  last  moment  the  question  of  the  Brigade 
organization  to  which  I  have  referred  was  still  under 
discussion,  furnishing  our  last  example  of  the  dilatoriness 
of  revolutionary  procedure.  The  Dictators  demanded  that 
in  all  cases  the  Brigade  Commander  should  be  a  Russian 
or  Armenian  officer.  To  this  I  replied  that  I  had  no 
objection  to  my  troops  serving  under  a  Russian  or  Armenian 
commander,  provided  that  he  were  not  only  of  the  proper 
seniority,  but  also  an  officer  of  considerable  experience 
in  the  present  war.  They  had  no  officers  of  the  necessary 
war  experience,  but  I  would  have  eventually  agreed  to 
anything  to  get  the  movement  started,  and  would  have 
relied  on  getting  things  into  order  later.  In  any  case 
I  knew  that  the  British  battalion  commander  would  see 
things  through  on  the  right  lines,  whether  he  were  in 
command  or  not. 

At  the  same  time  the  army,  the  fleet  and  the  town 
generally  were  daily  becoming  more  impatient  at  the 
ineffectiveness  of  the  Dictators,  and  a  strong  movement 


294    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

was  on  foot  to  remove  the  present  Government  and  to 
hand  over  the  entire  control,  civil  and  military,  to  the 
British. 

This  was  a  question  I  had  already  considered.  It  had 
sometimes  appeared  to  me  that  the  only  solution  of  the 
difficulty  would  be  forcibly  to  remove  the  Dictators  and  set 
up  an  allied  government,  with  full  power  of  civil  and 
military  administration  in  my  own  hands. 

I  was  very  much  tempted  to  take  this  line  of  action, 
but  I  had  to  abandon  the  idea  in  view  of  the  paucity  of 
officers  available  for  the  various  tasks  that  would  become 
necessary.  The  great  majority  of  my  officers  had  been 
left  in  Persia,  and  not  one  of  those  now  in  Baku  could  be 
spared  from  the  firing  line  or  from  the  various  adminis- 
trative appointments  we  were  already  holding. 

I  had  therefore  to  rest  content  with  the  limited  control 
we  had  already  secured  by  having  a  British  officer  as 
Chief  of  the  Staff  and  others  in  charge  of  the  arsenal, 
the  machine-guns  and  the  combined  infantry  of  the 
defensive  line. 

On  the  night  of  September  13,  1914,  the  general  dis- 
position of  the  Baku  troops  and  our  own  was  as 
follows  : 

The  high  ground  on  the  extreme  left  of  the  line,  covering 
the  Bibi  Eibat  oilfields,  was  held  by  A  Company  of 
the  7th  North  Staffords,  about  60  rifles,  under  Captain 
Bollington.  A  battalion  of  Armenians  (probably  not 
much  over  100  strong)  was  in  local  reserve  in  rear  of  this 
flank.  At  Wolf's  Gap  was  a  detachment  of  Russians 
with  two  machine-guns.  A  hundred  rifles  of  the  North 
Staffords,  which  were  the  only  British  troops  in  general 
reserve,  were  sent  at  dusk  to  occupy  the  crest  of  the  hill 
in  rear  of  A  Company,  the  intention  being  to  guard 
that  particular  point,  which  dominated  the  whole  of  the 
left  flank  from  a  night  attack,  and  to  withdraw  the  reserve 
at  daybreak  by  motor  transport  to  Baku. 


THE   SHADOW  OF  COMING  EVENTS         295 

On  the  northern  slopes  of  this  hill  were  a  battery  of 
three-inch  field  guns  and  two  howitzers. 

To  the  north  of  Wolf's  Gap  about  800  yards  of  the 
line  were  held  by  B  Company  of  the  North  Staffords 
under  Captain  Turkington.  The  line  was  prolonged  to 
the  right  by  Armenian  troops  to  a  point  opposite  the 
village  of  Khoja  Hasan.  One  battery  of  howitzers  and 
one  of  three-inch  field  guns  were  posted  north  of  the 
Wolf's  Gap  road.  A  reserve  of  two  Armenian  battalions 
was  posted  at  White  House,  1 J  miles  on  the  road  to  Baku, 
where  was  also  the  Head  Quarters  of  the  left  section, 
commanded  by  Colonel  Beg  Surab,  with  Major  Dayrell 
as  liaison  officer. 

The   right   section   of   the   defences,    commanded    by 
Colonel  Kazarov,  with  Major  Engledue  as  liaison  officer 
commenced  from  opposite  the  village  of  Khoja  Hasan. 
From  that  point  to  the  apex  of  the  Baladjari  salient  the 
line  was  held  by  Bicherakov's  brigade,  about  600  strong. 

Baladjari  was  held  by  two  companies  of  the  9th 
Worcesters,  and  the  line  from  Baladjari  to  Darnagul  by 
the  9th  Royal  Warwicks.  The  south  bank  of  the  Darnagul 
salt  lake  (which  was  almost  dry)  was  held  by  an  Armenian 
battalion,  and  the  defile  immediately  east  of  it  by  four 
machine-guns  of  the  Armoured  Car  Machine  Gun  Squadron. 
One  company  of  the  North  Staffords,  about  50  strong, 
was  in  local  reserve  at  the  point  where  the  Baladjari  road 
crosses  the  ridge ;  and  a  company  of  the  Warwicks, 
100  strong,  was  in  local  reserve  at  the  39th  Brigade 
Head  Quarters,  about  2  miles  east  of  that  point  on  the 
Baku-Binagadi  road.  Four  field  batteries,  including  the 
8th  Battery  R.F.A.  and  one  battery  of  howitzers,  were 
with  the  right  section.  Two  of  the  British  armoured  cars 
were  stationed  at  Baladjari,  the  third  was  in  reserve  at 
Baku.  A  force  of  about  500  Armenians  with  a  battery 
of  three-inch  guns,  three  Russian  armoured  cars  and  the 
cavalry  squadron,  was  operating  in  the  vicinity  of  Sura- 


296    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

khani  on  the  extreme  right,  in  order  to  check  a  Turkish 
mounted  force  which  was  threatening  that  flank.  This 
threat  was  never  of  a  serious  nature,  and  General  Duku- 
chaiev  was  urged  to  withdraw  the  greater  portion  of  this 
force  to  reinforce  his  left,  but  he  was  unaccountably- 
nervous  about  his  right  flank  and  refused  to  weaken  it. 
The  command  of  the  combined  troops  was  of  course 
in  the  hands  of  the  Russian  Commander-in-Chief,  but 
the  executive  commands  for  the  movements  and  dis- 
positions of  the  British  troops  on  September  14th  were 
actually  given  by  Colonel  Key  worth,  who  was  throughout 
in  communication  with  Colonel  Stokes,  Chief  of  the  Staff 
to  General  Dukuchaiev,  and  by  Colonel  Faviell,  com- 
manding the  39th  Brigade,  on  the  right,  and  by  Major 
Ley,  commanding  the  7th  North  Staffords,  on  the  left. 
I  was  myself  in  close  touch  with  General  Dukuchaiev, 
as  well  as  with  the  Dictators,  and  General  Bogratuni,  the 
Minister  of  War. 

This  statement  takes  no  account  of  most  of  the  Baku 
troops,  whose  dispositions  were  never  known  to  us.  We 
received  copies  of  the  orders  issued  by  General  Duku- 
chaiev, but  the  troops  never  moved  in  accordance  with 
these  orders. 


CHAPTER    XVII 
THE    WITHDRAWAL 

BEFORE  dawn  on  this  fateful  day,  September  14th, 
the  information  given  by  the  Arab  deserter  had 
been  proved  to  be  entirely  accurate. 

At  4  a.m.,  from  my  Head  Quarters  on  board  the  S.S. 
President  Kriiger  alongside  the  Caucasus-Mercury  wharf, 
the  sound  of  very  heavy  firing  all  along  the  line  announced 
that  the  great  attack  had  begun.  Now  for  the  supreme 
test  of  the  Baku  troops  !  If  they  would  only  hold  firm, 
all  would  be  well.  Their  training  and  morale  had  latterly 
much  improved,  the  position  had  great  natural  strength, 
and  if  the  Turks  gained  a  footing  on  the  heights  above 
the  town  they  could  only  do  so  after  suffering  heavy  loss. 
Should  this  happen  a  counter-attack  would  give  us  the 
victory,  and  before  another  attack  on  a  large  scale  could 
be  brought  off  reinforcements  from  Bicherakov  in  the 
north  and  from  our  own  people  in  the  south  would  render 
the  town  practically  impregnable. 

So  it  was  with  high  hopes  that  we  realized  that  the 
issue  was  now  to  be  put  to  the  test,  hopes  that  were  to  be 
dashed  to  the  ground  on  the  receipt  of  the  first  telephone 
message.  This  despairing  message  was  to  the  effect  that 
the  battle  was  over,  and  the  victorious  Turks  were  advanc- 
ing at  a  run,  without  opposition,  on  the  town.  This  was 
no  great  exaggeration  of  the  actual  facts,  which  were  as 
follows.     Attacking  at  4  a.m.  due  east  across  the  Railway 

297 


298    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

valley  on  to  the  Wolf's  Gap,  the  Turks  had  stormed  this 
strongest  part  of  the  line,  where  the  road  leads  directly 
up  the  steep  cliffs,  and  having  broken  right  through  the 
Baku  battalion  supposed  to  be  holding  this  line,  were  now 
actually  in  possession  of  the  heights  immediately  above 
the  town,  within  some  hundreds  of  yards  of  its  outskirts 
and  3,000  yards  from  the  wharves.  It  was  incredible 
that  this  strongest  portion  of  the  whole  line  should  so 
easily  have  fallen  to  the  enemy,  especially  when  all  troops 
had  been  warned  of  the  impending  attack,  but  though 
incredible  it  was  true.  With  troops  who  suffered  immediate 
defeat  with  every  factor  in  their  favour,  truly  there  was 
nothing  more  to  be  hoped  for  from  Baku,  and  the  problem 
now  became  one  of  how  to  save  a  rout  and  hold  up  the 
enemy  long  enough  to  enable  an  orderly  evacuation  of 
our  troops  to  be  effected. 

If  the  enemy  already  had  his  cavalry  and  infantry  on 
the  high  ground,  his  guns  should  be  there  shortly,  and  once 
they  were  there  the  harbour  lay  at  his  mercy. 

But  at  this  moment  the  Caucasus-Islam  Army  was 
seized  with  its  usual  hesitation,  giving  us  time  to  make 
such  dispositions  as  almost  enabled  us  to  turn  defeat 
into  victory ;  in  fact,  victory  would  even  now  have  been 
assured  if  the  town  troops  would  only  have  made  the 
smallest  effort. 

The  900  rifles  of  the  39th  Brigade — which  with  some  of 
Bicherakov's  men  and  the  town  artillery  were  all  that 
could  be  relied  on — were  disposed  with  the  Warwicks  and 
the  Worcesters  on  the  right,  facing  north  opposite  the 
Baladjari  Railway  Station,  and  the  North  Staffordshire 
on  the  left,  with  their  left  on  the  sea. 

The  pressure  being  now  entirely  on  the  left  centre 
and  left,  and  the  Turks  being  in  actual  possession  of  the 
centre,  it  became  necessary  to  withdraw  the  North  Staffords 
to  a  second  position,  thus  saving  them  from  being  out- 
flanked and  shortening  their  Hne,  while  still  retaining  hold 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  299 

of  the  higher  ground.  This  shortening  of  the  line  enabled 
Major  Ley,  who  handled  his  battalion  throughout  the  day 
with  great  skill  and  bravery,  to  send  one  company  to 
engage  the  Turks  holding  the  plateau,  while  Colonel  Key- 
worth  dispatched  further  reinforcements  to  strengthen 
this  part  of  the  line  and  endeavour  to  render  the  enemy's 
position  on  the  plateau  untenable. 

These  dispositions,  which  were  effected  by  8  a.m., 
entirely  stopped  the  Turkish  advance,  but  owing  to  the 
security  afforded  to  the  enemy  by  the  folds  in  the  ground, 
and  the  small  number  of  British  troops  available  rendering 
counter-attack  impossible,  our  efforts  did  not  succeed 
in  driving  him  from  the  position,  which  he  held  throughout 
the  day. 

However,  the  enemy's  advance  was  now  checked,  and 
all  hope  was  not  lost.  To  use  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
39th  Brigade  for  counter-attack,  which  one  was  much 
tempted  to  do,  would  have  resulted  in  the  usual  melting 
away  of  the  portion  of  the  line  from  which  they  would 
have  to  be  withdrawn,  and  was  consequently  not  to  be 
thought  of.  Was  it  too  much  to  still  hope  for  some 
form  of  counter-attack  from  the  town  troops  ?  This  was 
the  hope  we  clung  to  throughout  the  day,  and  which  more 
than  once  seemed  on  the  verge  of  realization.  Counter- 
attacks ordered  by  General  Dukuchaiev  seldom  even  got 
as  far  as  the  assembly  of  the  necessary  troops,  those  detailed 
for  the  task  mysteriously  failing  to  reach  the  rendezvous. 
But  there  are  exceptions  to  every  rule,  and  among 
unheroic  people  one  does  get  remarkable  instances  of 
heroism. 

Twice  a  counter-attack  was  got  on  the  move  and 
advanced  bravely,  but  bravery  mthout  skill  is  unavailing. 
The  leading  was  bad  and  failure  was  the  result.  In  most 
cases  the  Baku  battalions  had  fine  commanders,  but 
company  and  platoon  commanders,  who  are  all-important 
in  counter-attack,  were  miserable. 


•00     THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

However,  at  8  a.m.  the  situation  was  not  so  bad.  The 
left  was  fairly  secure,  the  centre  had  been  reformed,  and 
the  Turks  on  the  plateau  were  now  unable  to  pursue  the 
victorious  advance  that  they  could  so  easily  have  maintained 
earlier  in  the  day  but  for  their  initial  hesitation.  The 
Warwicks  and  Worcesters,  under  Colonel  Faviell,  were 
holding  their  own  on  the  right,  but  were  threatened  by  a 
Turkish  attack  from  the  north.  This  attack  materialized 
later,  but  was  successfully  beaten  off.  The  line  was  being 
reinforced  and  strengthened  everywhere ;  two  aeroplanes 
were  busy  with  machine-guns  and  bombs,  and  the  six 
armoured-cars — three  British  and  three  Russian — were 
doing  fine  work  on  the  plateau. 

But  as  the  enemy  was  now  holding  the  heights  right 
and  left  of  Wolf's  Gap,  he  was  enabled  to  bring  up  his 
reinforcements  almost  unimpeded,  and,  unless  a  successful 
counter-attack  could  be  brought  off,  it  would  soon  be 
impossible  to  prevent  him  from  completing  his  capture 
of  the  town.  Any  further  advance  on  his  part  would 
drive  a  wedge  in  between  the  two  portions  of  the  39th 
Brigade  and  compel  their  withdrawal. 

All  this  time  the  town  was  being  shelled  at  intervals. 
The  shells  did  little  harm,  but  the  Turk  knew  well  the 
moral  effect  of  shell  fire  in  a  town.  He  calculated  on 
maintaining  a  state  of  panic,  and  the  town  fully  justified 
his  calculations. 

About  9  a.m.  came  the  joyful  news  that  two  ships  had 
arrived  bringing  reinforcements  from  Bieherakov.  As  his 
troops  could  certainly  be  relied  on,  it  seemed  that  now 
indeed  the  situation  might  be  saved.  The  news  went 
round  the  town  and  up  to  the  fighting  troops  with  extra- 
ordinary rapidity,  and  the  fighting  value  of  the  local 
army  increased  by  fifty  per  cent.  There  were  the  ships 
slowly  coming  into  harbour,  crowded  from  bow  to  stern. 
But  alas,  our  field  glasses  showed  us  only  too  plainly 
that  whatever  they  were  they  had  not  much  the  appearance 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  301 

of  troops.  In  a  short  time  it  transpired  that  the  ships 
contained  not  Bicherakov's  heroes,  but  the  unheroic 
elements  of  Baku  itself,  who  had  boarded  two  steamers 
and  put  to  sea  in  ignominious  flight  and  had  been 
recaptured  by  one  of  the  gunboats  and  brought  back. 
But  the  false  news  had  been  helpful,  and  the  reaction 
on  discovery  of  the  disappointment  could  not  make 
things  any  worse  than  they  were  before. 

The  principal  targets  in  the  town  for  the  enemy*s 
artillery  were  the  two  hotels,  the  Europe  and  the 
M^tropole,  which  had  been  alternately  used  as  Colonel 
Key  worth's  Head  Quarters.  These  were  soon  rendered 
untenable. 

Throughout  the  morning  I  was  very  loth  to  interfere 
with  General  Dukuchaiev,  the  Commander-in-Chief,  as 
I  was  quite  aware  of  the  need  for  his  being  able  to  work 
out  his  plans  without  disturbance,  and  with  Colonel 
Stokes  as  his  Chief  Staff  Officer  I  felt  quite  confident 
of  the  liaison  between  the  39th  Brigade  and  the  local 
troops  being  maintained  and  of  sound  measures  being 
undertaken.  When  I  did  determine  to  visit  him  in  his 
Head  Quarters  I  found  that  I  had  been  needlessly  diffident. 
I  was  admitted  to  his  office  at  11  a.m.,  and  a  worse 
state  of  confusion  I  have  never  beheld.  This  indeed  made 
me  lose  all  hope.  I  am  not  blaming  the  General  himself  ; 
it  is  hard  to  play  the  part  of  Commander-in-Chief  in  a 
revolutionary  army  when  aU  are  equal  and  all  have  an 
equal  right  to  make  and  discuss  plans,  but  the  adoption 
of  any  consistent  line  of  action  amid  such  turmoil  becomes 
impossible. 

True  enough  the  General's  room  was  in  a  sort  of  inner 
sanctuary,  reached  after  passing  through  several  other 
rooms  containing  an  unnecessary  number  of  soldier- 
clerks  and  officials,  but  on  opening  the  door  I  soon  found 
that  though  in  a  remote  corner,  it  was  by  no  means  a 
sanctuary.     In  fact  it  is  hardly  an  exaggeration  to  say 


802    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

that  the  sound  of  the  shells  bursting  in  the  street  outside 
was  drowned  by  the  din  within.  The  first  sight  that  met 
my  gaze  was  the  General  himself,  not  seated  quietly  with 
his  Staff  pondering  the  problem  before  him,  but  standing 
in  the  middle  of  the  room  with  a  tall  Cossack  Lieutenant 
towering  over  him  and  gesticulating  with  such  fury  that 
I  really  thought  he  was  about  to  strike  him.  There  is 
no  advantage  in  mentioning  this  officer's  name,  but  he 
was  well  known  to  us  all  as  a  man  of  most  excitable  tem- 
perament, and  he  will  doubtless  recognize  himself  if  this 
book  ever  comes  his  way. 

When  the  Lieutenant  was  removed,  the  General, 
instead  of  ordering  his  arrest,  merely  said,  "  Yes,  he's 
a  hot-tempered  fellow,  isn't  he  ?  "  Truly  the  Russian 
temperament  is  a  wonderful  mixture  of  extremes.  Frantic 
excitement  instantaneously   replaced   by  placid   calm. 

Other  less  furious  advisers  stood  ready  to  take  the 
Lieutenant's  place,  the  telephone  bell  rang  incessantly, 
and  the  General  answered  most  of  the  calls  himself,  while 
on  the  balcony  were  gathered  Colonel  Stokes  and  other 
British  officers,  who  found  the  turmoil  of  the  street 
noises  less  disturbing  than  the  clamour  of  the  office. 

The  object  of  my  visit  was  firstly  to  find  out  how  things 
were  going  at  Russian  Head  Quarters,  and  secondly  to 
impress  on  the  General  that  only  by  determined  counter- 
attack could  the  situation  be  saved.  The  latter  point 
had  naturally  been  already  considered,  and  after  short 
discussion  it  appeared  that  the  orders  the  Chief  was  about 
to  issue  should  bring  about  the  desired  result,  But  judg- 
ing from  the  half  conversations  that  I  overheard  as  the 
General  spoke  on  the  telephone  to  some  Staff  Officer, 
I  entertained  small  hope  of  the  attack  being  brought  off. 
The  following  are  examples  of  the  telephonic  fragments 
I  overheard.  '*  Why  isn't  his  battalion  there  ?  "  "I 
gave  the  orders  two  days  ago  and  have  since  repeated 
them    three    times."      "  Don't    you    know    where    that 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  808 

battalion  is  ?  "     "  If  he  doesn't  obey  orders  he'll  have  to 
be  placed  under  arrest." 

The  result  of  this  visit  was  to  convince  me  that  unless 
a  fresh  miracle  were  added  to  the  already  long  list,  Baku 
could  not  be  saved,  and  it  was  time  to  consider  the  pre- 
liminary steps  for  evacuation.  I  therefore  returned  to 
the  ships  and  gave  instructions  to  commence  precautionary 
measures.  Commodore  Norris,  R.N.,  thereupon  took  all 
necessary  measures  for  the  preparation  of  the  ships. 
The  Kursk  and  Abo  were  made  ready  for  the  sick  and 
wounded,  while  the  Kriiger  was  to  carry  the  guns  and  the 
greater  portion  of  the  fighting  men.  The  latter  would 
number  about  1,300,  as  in  addition  to  the  900  in  the  firing 
line,  some  400  were  employed  on  town  duties,  guards, 
supplies,  etc.  This  last  reserve  was  also  to  find,  in  case 
of  a  sauve  qui  peut  with  which  we  were  always  threatened, 
a  rallying  point  and  general  support  amidst  the  confusion 
of  a  fighting  retirement.  Cotton  bales  from  the  wharf 
were  hauled  on  board  and  disposed  so  as  to  protect  the 
bridge  and  the  more  vulnerable  parts  of  the  ship  against 
rifle  fire.  This  was  all  we  could  do  in  the  way  of  protection, 
as  no  strengthening  could  help  us  against  the  fire  of  the 
larger  guns  from  the  Baku  fleet  if,  as  seemed  probable, 
it  turned  against  us  at  the  last  moment. 

It  was  a  great  boon  that  so  far  the  telephone  lines  had 
not  been  cut,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  town  was  full 
of  enemy  agents,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  they  remained 
intact  up  to  the  last  moment,  thereby  greatly  facilitating 
movements  covering  the  evacuation. 

Detailed  orders  had  been  previously  issued  on  the  ' 
subject  of  the  withdrawal  and  made  known  to  every 
man  in  the  force.  The  final  order  would  now  merely 
require  to  state  the  hour  at  which  the  withdrawal  should 
commence,  and  the  flank  from  which  it  should  begin. 
But  even  with  every  possible  contingency  foreseen,  the 
operation  would  be  attended  with  very  great  risks,  and 


804    THE   ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

the  chances  of  success  were  not  great.  To  endeavour  to 
extricate  troops  from  the  fight  is  in  itself  a  risky  proceeding, 
and  is  likely,  with  an  active  enemy,  to  result  in  disaster. 
Luckily  one  might  safely  say  that  our  enemy  was  not  a 
very  active  one.  Then,  when  the  news  of  our  intended 
withdrawal  spread  round  the  town,  the  entire  population 
would  regard  us  as  enemies,  and  my  troops  would  have  to 
fight  their  way  through  the  streets  to  the  ships.  And 
finally  I  was  convinced  that  the  Government  would 
order  their  fleet  to  open  fire  on  us  as  we  left  the  harbour. 

Up  till  4  p.m.  I  considered  that  a  faint  ray  of  hope 
still  remained.  It  would  take  so  little  to  defeat  an  enemy 
who  had  been  kept  at  bay  for  twelve  hours  after  having 
gained  the  key  of  the  position.  But  by  that  hour  the 
last  flicker  of  hope  was  extinguished  by  the  news  that  once 
more  the  endeavour  to  mass  troops  for  the  counter-attack 
had  completely  failed.  So  off  went  the  final  order  to  the 
troops.  The  retirement  to  commence  from  the  right  at 
8  p.m.,  covered  by  the  left,  where  the  North  Staff  or  ds 
would  have  to  hold  on  for  another  hour,  till  9  p.m. 

The  sick  and  wounded  from  the  shore  hospital  were 
brought  on  board  the  Kursk  and  the  Abo,  and  arrangements 
made  for  future  cases  to  be  run  straight  on  board  from  the 
dressing  stations.  Guards  were  placed  as  unostentatiously 
as  possible  at  important  street  corners  to  help  the  with- 
drawing troops  through  in  case  of  pursuit  by  a  mob,  and 
all  entrances  to  the  pier  were  strongly  held. 

Now  remained  only  a  matter  of  honour  and  conscience. 
I  had  previously  notified  the  Dictators  that  when  I  should 
judge  the  moment  right  for  departure,  I  would  remove 
my  troops  without  giving  any  further  warning.  I  was 
quite  within  my  rights,  therefore,  if  I  acted  up  to  this  and 
slipped  away  without  any  notification.  But  nothing  is 
ever  certain  in  war,  and  miracles  might  happen  after  our 
departure  that  would  still  enable  the  inhabitants  to  hold 
the  town  if  given  a  fair  chance  of  doing  so  ;   and  a  secret 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  805 

withdrawal,  leaving  gaps  in  the  most  important  parts  of 
the  line,  would  not  be  giving  them  a  fair  chance.  The 
Turks  were  not  yet  actually  in  the  town  ;  they  had  once 
before  been  seized  by  panic  and  fled  in  the  moment  of 
victory,  under  circumstances  very  similar  to  the  present, 
and  this  might  happen  again. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
if  I  warned  the  Dictators  of  my  intentions  they  would 
turn  their  own  troops  and  the  guns  of  the  fleet  on  to  us. 
The  problem  of  how  to  save  both  my  honour  and  my  men 
was  not  an  easy  one  to  solve. 

I  finally  decided  to  inform  the  Dictators  of  my  inten- 
tions and  to  take  the  chances,  rather  than  leave  them 
with  a  feeling  (unjust  but  natural)  that  they  had  been 
betrayed  by  the  British.  I  accordingly  dispatched  Captain 
Bray,  my  Russian  A.D.C.,  with  a  written  communication 
to  the  Dictators  informing  them  briefly  that  I  was  about 
to  remove  my  troops.  When  Captain  Bray  reached  the 
Government  Head  Quarters  the  building  was  being  heavily 
shelled,  and  those  of  the  Dictators  who  were  there 
together  with  the  various  Commissaries  and  Deputies 
were  in  such  a  state  of  bewilderment  that  they  merely 
replied  verbally,  "  Do  what  you  please."  This  was 
satisfactory  so  far,  but  the  mood  was  not  to  be  relied 
on,  and  I  relaxed  none  of  the  precautions. 

Up  till  sunset  the  battle  raged  very  fiercely,  and  the 
whole  safety  of  the  withdrawal  depended  on  whether  the 
North  Staffords  could  hold  on  to  the  southern  ridges  till 
dark. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  gallantry  of  this  battalion, 
which  accomplished  its  mission  to  the  last  letter.  The 
whole  Brigade  worked  with  unexampled  steadiness  and 
precision,  and  many  stories  could  be  told  of  the  heroic 
lives  laid  down  on  this  last  day  of  the  Baku  fighting.  Among 
others  a  very  fine  soldier.  Major  Beresford  Havelock,  of 
the  North  Staff ords,  grandson  of  the  famous  Sir  Henry 


306    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

Havelock  of  Lucknow,  was  mortally  wounded  while 
leading  his  men,  and  continued  issuing  calm  and  collected 
orders  with  his  last  breath. 

As  the  sun  set  the  fighting  died  down,  both  sides 
feeling  the  strain  of  fourteen  hours'  unbroken  effort. 
The  great  advantage  of  this  was  that  it  made  the  extrica- 
tion of  troops  easier,  and  secondly  casualties  almost 
entirely  ceased  about  this  hour.  The  problem  of  the 
removal  of  wounded  men  in  the  dark  under  all  these 
difficulties  was  a  nightmare  to  me,  and  I  was  grateful 
that  the  problem  thus  solved  itself. 

Soon  after  dark  all  the  sick  and  wounded  were  safely 
on  board  the  Kursk  and  Aho,  and  the  two  steamers  got 
under  way  for  Enzeli.  Their  instructions  were  to  offer  no 
resistance  to  any  serious  opposition,  to  comply  with  all 
orders  in  case  of  a  meeting  with  the  fleet,  and  to  explain 
that  the  steamers  held  the  sick  and  wounded,  to  the 
evacuation  of  whom  no  objection  was  likely  to  be  raised. 
It  was  fortunate  that  we  were  able  to  get  both  of  these 
ships  away  before  the  suspicions  of  the  town  had  been 
aroused.     That  was  not  likely  to  be  our  case. 

By  10  p.m.  all  troops  and  guns  were  on  board  the 
Kriiger.  The  artillery  horses  we  had  been  able  to  hand 
over  to  a  portion  of  Bicherakov's  detachment,  who  had 
room  for  them  in  a  steamer,  in  which  they  were  evacu- 
ating north  to  rejoin  their  Head  Quarters  at  Petrovsk. 
Nothing  now  remained  but  to  get  on  board  as  much 
ammunition  as  possible,  and  to  see  that  Colonel  Rawlin- 
son  was  ready  to  follow  with  his  small  steamer. 

The  Arsenal,  of  which  Colonel  Rawlinson  had  been  in 
charge,  was  within  500  yards  of  our  wharf  and  had  a 
small  pier  of  its  own.  During  the  day  he  had  been 
engaged  in  transferring  the  contents  of  the  Arsenal  to 
barges  moored  in  the  harbour,  which  could  be  sunk  at  a 
moment's  notice  if  necessary.  But  it  was  obviously 
advantageous  to  take  away  with  us  such  munitions  and 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  807 

stores  as  might  be  likely  to  be  of  use  to  us  in  a  renewal 
of  operations.  For  this  purpose  Colonel  Rawlinson  had 
commandeered  a  small  steamer,  the  Armenian ,  of  only 
200  tons,  and  had  completely  filled  her  with  arms, 
ammunition  and  explosives.  The  crew  of  this  ship  were 
mutinous  and  determined  not  to  sail.  It  was  obvious 
therefore  that  if  compelled  to  sail  by  force  they  would 
steer  a  wrong  course,  so  it  was  arranged  that  when  I 
was  ready  to  get  the  Krilger  under  way  I  should  haul 
down  my  three  lights  from  the  masts  (which  had  been  the 
guiding  signal  for  any  individual  soldier  who  might  have 
got  lost  in  the  town),  and  Colonel  Rawlinson,  on  seeing 
this,  would  get  his  steamer  on  the  move  and  follow 
immediately  in  our  wake.  This  sounds  fairly  easy,  but 
in  the  event  proved  so  difficult  that  it  is  a  wonder  that 
the  Armenian  ever  found  her  way  out  at  all.  How  it 
worked  out  will  be  told  later  in  Colonel  Rawlinson's 
own  words. 

Now  that  all  was  ready  for  the  start,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  some  ammunition  which  we  were  still  loading  on 
to  the  Krilger,  came  the  event  which  I  had  foreseen. 

The  spirits  of  the  Dictators  and  the  town  rose  and  fell, 
not  as  the  news  from  the  fighting  troops  was  good  or  bad, 
but  as  the  number  of  shells  bursting  close  to  them  in  the 
town  decreased  or  increased.  The  only  shells  that  did 
not  matter  were  of  course  those  that  fell  in  the  town,  but 
it  is  the  habit  of  towns  to  think  otherwise. 

In  Baku,  when  the  town  was  heavily  shelled  but  with 
trifling  casualties,  the  people  wailed,  ''  All  is  lost  "  ;  when 
the  shell  fire  was  concentrated  on  to  the  fighting  troops, 
and  all  might  well  be  truly  lost,  they  cried,  "  We  are 
saved  !  " 

Now  with  the  cessation  of  shell  fire  on  the  town  the 
spirits  of  the  Dictators  rose,  and  the  fighting  spirit  that 
had  hitherto  been  so  well  concealed  became  rampant. 
Once  more  was  raised  the  cry  that  only  came  with  the 


308    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

lulls  in  the  firing,  "  We  will  fight  to  the  death  !  "  Then 
came  the  anxious  queries,  **  What  are  the  British  doing  ?  " 
'*  Why  are  they  deserting  us  ?  "  and  so  on,  resulting  in 
the  dispatch  of  emissaries  to  convey  orders  to  me  on 
board  the  Kriiger. 

Meantime  the  town  also  was  beginning  to  take  alarm, 
and  had  the  wharf  not  been  carefully  guarded  the  trouble 
might  have  begun.  A  mounted  soldier  of  the  Baku 
force  galloped  up  to  the  entrance  of  the  wharf,  where  he 
was  confronted  by  the  stolid  sentry,  to  whom  he  shouted 
out,  "  What's  all  this  going  on  here  ?  "  "  Why  are  the 
British  deserting  us  ?  "  **  Stop  these  movements  at  once,*' 
and  then  galloped  off  to  alarm  the  town.  The  gist  of  his 
remarks  were  quite  lost  on  the  sentry,  to  whom  I  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  translate  them. 

At  this  moment  the  expected  delegation  from  the 
Government  put  in  its  appearance.  Two  Dictators, 
Lemlin  and  Sadovsky,  arrived  on  the  wharf  and  demanded 
to  see  the  British  General  on  an  urgent  matter.  I  took 
them  on  board  the  Kriiger,  seated  them  in  the  saloon  and 
inquired  their  business.  The  spokesman  Sadovsky  replied  : 
"  I  bring  you  written  instructions  from  the  Baku  Govern- 
ment to  the  effect  that  any  attempt  at  withdrawal  on  your 
part  will  be  regarded  as  treachery  and  treated  as  such. 
If  you  have  removed  any  of  your  troops  from  the  firing 
line  you  are  at  once  to  send  them  back  to  their  original 
positions.  The  Turks  are  not  yet  in  the  town  and  we  mean 
to  continue  the  fight." 

In  reply  to  this  demand  I  stated  briefly  my  point  of 
view  in  the  following  words  :  "  Please  inform  the  Baku 
Government  that  my  present  withdrawal  is  not  in  any 
sense  a  betrayal,  as  you  have  had  full  and  ample  warning 
of  my  intentions.  My  troops  have  sustained  the  fight 
throughout  the  day  for  sixteen  hours  without  relief  or 
any  real  support  from  your  troops,  who  have  done  little 
of  the  fighting.    Under  such  circumstances  I  refuse  to 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  309 

sacrifice  any  more  of  their  lives  in  a  vain  cause.  As  to 
their  returning  to  their  original  positions  in  the  firing  line, 
they  are  physically  incapable,  after  their  sixteen  hours* 
fighting,  of  carrying  out  that  order,  and  I  will  give  no 
such  order.     I  sail  at  once." 

On  this  Sadovsky  assumed  a  fierce  and  truculent  air 
and  said,  "  Then  the  fleet  will  open  fire  on  you  and  sink 
your  ships,"  to  which  I  replied,  **  I  hope  not,"  and  bowed 
them  off  the  ship. 

A  Staff  Officer  whispered  in  my  ear,  *'  Why  not  arrest 
them  and  take  them  along  ?  "  a  useful  suggestion,  but  I 
felt  we  could  accomplish  what  we  wanted  without  intro- 
ducing any  complications,  and  so  I  decided  against  it. 

I  should  be  able  to  sail  by  11  p.m. ;  the  gunboats  were 
some  distance  away.  It  would  take  the  Dictators  some 
time  to  get  their  orders  decided  on  and  transmitted  to 
the  fleet,  and  revolutionary  fleets  do  not  obey  orders  with 
any  alacrity.  The  fleet  also  did  not  care  much  for  any 
Government  and  were  rather  friends  of  ours  ;  at  the  last 
moment  they  might,  and  probably  would,  hesitate  to 
fire  on  the  only  troops  who  had  done  anything  to  try  and 
save  Baku  from  the  Turks.  Moreover,  we  would  leave 
with  all  lights  out,  and  the  gunboats  had  no  searchlights, 
as  we  had  borrowed  them  for  use  on  the  front ;  we  could 
risk  a  good  deal  of  fire  under  such  circumstances.  The 
only  real  danger  was  the  Guardship  stationed  at  the  exit 
of  the  harbour  to  check  all  arrivals  and  departures.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  pass  within  500  yards  of  her,  but 
we  would  be  going  dead  slow  and  the  night  was  fortunately 
dark.  If  she  opened  fire  she  had  no  large  guns  on  board — 
certainly  nothing  larger  than  a  field  gun — and  the 
probability  of  her  sinking  us  was  quite  small,  so  the  risk 
was  not  an  undue  one. 

It  was  an  anxious  moment  when  the  clock  struck  eleven 
and  Commodore  Norris  gave  the  order  to  cast  off.  The 
three  lights  were  hauled  down  from  the  masts,  giving  the 


810    THE  ADVENTURES   OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

signal  to  Colonel  Rawlinson  that  we  were  o£E,  and  the  ship 
silently  slipped  away  from  the  wharf.  Quietly  we  glided 
through  the  calm  waters  of  the  harbour,  the  Captain 
steering  cleverly  so  as  to  keep  some  anchored  ship  or 
barge  between  us  and  the  Guardship. 

It  is  always  at  such  moments  of  tension  that  the  ridicu- 
lous intervenes  and  brings  tragedy  very  close.  The  silence 
of  the  night  was  suddenly  rent  by  an  excited  Russian  voice. 
A  sailor  rushed  on  deck  exclaiming  in  accents  of  despair, 
*'  My  wife  !  My  wife  !  I've  left  my  wife  behind  !  Oh, 
save  my  wife  !  "  an  appeal  that  to  the  sentimental  crew 
was  far  more  urgent  than  any  orders  from  the  Captain 
of  the  ship.  The  engines  stopped,  down  went  the  anchor 
with  a  clang  and  a  rattle,  the  ship  slowly  swung  round, 
up  came  the  anchor  again  and  we  retraced  our  course  to 
the  wharf  where,  after  some  clever  manoeuvring,  the 
Krilger  was  brought  alongside  and  the  lady  rescued.  All 
such  incidents  have  just  to  be  put  up  with  when  dealing 
with  revolutionary  crews.  The  crew  rule  the  ship,  and 
any  interference  with  them  only  turns  them  sulky  and 
defeats  its  own  object. 

No  particular  alarm  appeared  to  have  been  caused  by 
the  rattle  of  the  anchor  chains,  and  the  only  thing  I 
regretted  was  the  delay  and  the  knowledge  that  I  was 
making  things  rather  difficult  for  Colonel  Rawlinson, 
whose  orders  to  "  follow  the  Krilger "  would  become 
rather  difficult  to  carry  out. 

On  a  second  attempt  to  leave  the  wharf  another 
female  voice  was  raised  in  supplication,  and  further  delay 
occurred  in  getting  this  second  forlorn  person  on  board, 
and  when  at  last  we  got  away  again  it  was  well  past 
midnight. 

All  went  well  now  till  the  critical  moment  when  we 
were  dead  opposite  the  Guardship,  creeping  along  behind 
a  row  of  barges  at  anchor.  At  this  crisis  some  clever 
ill-wisher  among  the  crew  turned  all  the  electric  lights 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  311 

full  on.  Now  indeed  matters  would  be  put  to  the 
test! 

With  the  first  flash  of  lights  came  a  signal  from  the 
Guardship,  "  Who  are  you  ?  Anchor  at  once."  To 
which  we  responded  with  alacrity  signifying  acquiescence, 
and  went  full  speed  ahead. 

It  did  not  take  long  for  the  Guardship  to  realize 
that  we  were  disobeying  orders,  and  she  immediately 
opened  fire  with  a  gun  of  small  calibre.  The  first  shot 
whizzed  over  in  close  proximity  to  the  bridge,  where 
Commodore  Norris  and  Colonel  Hoskyn  were  standing 
by  the  Captain.  This  was  too  much  for  the  man  at  the 
wheel,  who  incontinently  fled,  leaving  the  ship  to  look 
after  herself.  In  half  a  second  the  Captain,  Alexander 
Ivanovitch  Feodorov,  had  hold  of  the  wheel  and  kept 
her  on  her  course.  Our  speed  soon  took  us  into  safety, 
and  no  shots  struck  the  ship,  but  from  the  continuation 
of  the  fire  I  judged  that  the  little  Armenian  had  been 
discovered  and  was  getting  the  full  benefit  of  the  Guard- 
ship's  attentions.  Colonel  Rawlinson's  predicament  in 
his  vessel  loaded  with  explosives  under  so  heavy  a  fire 
was  as  bad  as  it  could  be,  and  I  momentarily  expected 
to  hear  the  sound  of  an  explosion,  which  would  mean 
the  fatal  termination  of  his  enterprise.  No  such  sound, 
however,  reached  our  ears  as  long  as  we  were  within 
hearing  distance  of  the  harbour,  but  there  still  remained 
the  great  risk  of  so  slow-steaming  a  vessel  with  a  sulky 
crew  falling  into  the  hands  of  a  pursuer,  and  the  chances 
of  his  escape  seemed  very  small  indeed. 

As  regards  the  Kriiger  her  risks  seemed  now  at  an  end. 
Pursuit  was  improbable  and  her  speed  was  only  about  one 
knot  less  than  that  of  the  gunboats.  When  dawn  broke 
on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  15th,  we  were  making  good 
way  over  the  smooth  surface  of  the  Caspian,  and  the  Baku 
happenings  were  already  beginning  to  seem  unreal.  The 
ship  was  crowded  and  uncomfortable  with  seventy  oflicers 


312    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

and  800  men  on  board,  but  the  shortage  of  food  was  all 
there  was  to  worry  about. 

This  was  not  due  to  lack  of  precaution.  Dry  rations 
had  been  kept  on  board  from  the  beginning,  sufficient 
to  feed  the  largest  possible  number  of  troops  that  the 
ship  could  accommodate,  but  tinned  provisions  such  as 
bully  beef,  etc.,  were  not  to  be  procured  in  Baku,  and  the 
provision  of  fresh  meat  at  the  last  moment,  under  the 
circumstances  in  which  we  left,  was  obviously  not  possible. 
But  it  was  sad  to  see  the  heroes  of  yesterday's  hard  fight- 
ing having  nothing  to  regale  themselves  on  but  bread, 
biscuit  and  tea.  If  ever  men  deserved  a  Lord  Mayor's 
banquet  they  did.  This  Brigade,  composed  entirely  of 
New  Army  Battalions,  had  covered  itself  with  glory 
second  to  none  in  the  annals  of  our  best  fighting  regiments. 
The  eight  or  nine  hundred  men  who  had  composed  the 
firing  line  had  been  in  the  position  for  six  weeks,  and  had 
kept  at  bay  for  that  period  a  Turkish  army  ten  times 
their  strength. 

It  would  be  idle  boasting  to  pretend  that  they  alone  had 
held  the  20  miles  of  front  that  constituted  the  defensive 
position  of  Baku  ;  many  of  the  Baku  detachments  who 
held  the  line  with  them  did  on  occasions  very  well,  and 
the  Baku  artillery  was  quite  good.  But  no  one  in  Baku 
would  argue  that  anything  but  those  brave  lads  of  the 
English  Midland  Brigade  kept  the  Turks  out  of  the  town. 

The  total  casualties  of  this  small  force  in  this  last 
fight  were  180  killed,  wounded  and  missing  of  all  ranks, 
or  about  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  numbers  engaged.  The 
casualties  of  the  Turks  opposed  to  them  were  certainly 
very  much  greater.  The  result  of  the  day's  battle  was 
that  the  Turks  were  fought  to  a  standstill,  and  it  was 
owing  to  this  that  the  extrication  of  our  troops  was  so 
successfully  accomplished.  It  was  impossible  for  any 
sane  person  to  hope  any  longer  for  counter-attack  on  the 
part   of   the   Baku   troops.     Had   such   an   attack   been 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  818 

possible  in  the  early  hours  of  the  15th,  the  Turk  would 
probably  have  been  finally  driven  off,  but  in  the  certain 
absence  of  such  effort  further  delay  in  evacuation  would 
merely  have  meant  that  evacuation  would  have  become 
impossible,  the  Turks  would  still  take  Baku,  and  more 
of  these  good  British  lives  would  have  been  needlessly 
sacrificed. 

The  loss  in  materiel  was  not  great.  The  two  aero- 
planes that  had  taken  such  an  active  part  in  the  fight 
were  riddled  and  had  to  be  destroyed.  The  armoured 
cars  that  had  throughout  the  six  weeks'  fighting  so  nobly 
maintained  their  reputation  for  gallant  action,  and  also 
the  thirty  Ford  cars  which  had  worked  like  Trojans  on 
transport  duties,  were  left  to  the  Turks,  but  not  in  such 
a  condition  as  to  be  of  much  use  to  them. 

As  we  steamed  away  from  the  wharf  the  only  thing 
left  there  was  the  skeleton  of  the  brave  little  Ford  touring 
car  that  had  carried  me  through  so  many  difficulties  and 
dangers  since  we  left  Baghdad  in  January. 

Towards  sunset  we  caught  sight  of  the  familiar  outline 
of  the  Elburz  range  as  we  approached  the  Persian  shore. 
It  was  good  to  know  that  so  large  a  portion  of  the  force 
as  the  Krilger  contained  had  been  safely  brought  back 
to  Persia,  but  my  mind  was  filled  with  anxious  surmises 
as  to  the  fate  of  the  Kursk  and  the  Aho,  who  had  preceded 
us.  The  first  news  we  got  on  anchoring  in  Enzeli  harbour 
was  that  they  had  long  been  in  and  all  the  sick  and  wounded 
were  comfortably  housed  in  the  shore  hospital.  The 
only  remaining  anxiety  now  was  the  Armenian,  and  as 
the  hours  slipped  by  with  no  signs  of  her,  I  despaired  of 
her  ever  being  seen  again.  But  to  our  great  delight, 
just  twelve  hours  after  our  arrival,  the  brave  little  vessel 
steamed  into  port  and  came  to  anchor,  reporting  **  All's 
well."  She  had  had  six  direct  hits  from  shells,  but 
none  below  the  water-line.  The  following  is  an  extract 
from  Colonel  Rawlinson's  report : 


314    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

**...!  made  certain  preparations  on  the  night  of 
September  14th  to  endeavour  to  get  the  Armenian  away 
from  the  Arsenal  quay  with  such  munitions  as  might  be 
of  service  to  the  enemy  and  would  be  of  use  to  Dunster- 
force,  in  the  event  of  its  becoming  necessary  to  evacuate 
the  town. 

"  I  received  notice  that  this  decision  had  been  taken 
at  4  p.m. 

"  On  proceeding  on  board  the  ship  there  was  at  once 
apparent  a  hostile  attitude  amongst  the  crew  numbering 
twenty-six,  who  refused  to  work  and  generally  obstructed 
the  proceedings.  The  pier  was  becoming  congested  with 
nervous  townspeople  and  runaway  soldiers  from  the 
firing  line  spreading  rumours  of  disaster.  Under  these 
circumstances  I  got  my  two  A.S.C.  drivers  and  my  batman 
and  Captain  Jackson  under  arms,  and  was  able  with 
fixed  bayonets  to  clear  the  pier  and  posted  them  to  hold 
the  shore  end,  whilst  I  reported  to  the  Krilger  and  asked 
for  a  picket.  This  was  duly  sent,  and  consisted  of  four 
men  of  the  Hampshire  Regiment. 

"  On  my  return  I  found  a  Commissar,  who  stated  that 
he  came  by  order  of  the  Government  to  prevent  the  ship 
leaving  and  to  give  notice  that  we  should  be  fired  on  by 
the  gunboats  if  we  attempted  to  pass.  He  likewise 
trumped  up  a  demand  for  one  of  the  guns  on  board 
(reported  to  me  as  unserviceable)  to  be  sent  to  the  front. 
I  took  him  into  the  cabin,  from  which  he  at  once  attempted 
to  bolt,  with  the  obvious  intention  of  communicating  with 
the  shore.  I  therefore  placed  a  sentry  at  the  door  and 
made  him  prisoner,  and  proceeded  with  my  preparations 
with  all  speed.  In  the  meanwhile  the  picquet  was  holding 
the  shore  end  successfully. 

"  Soon  after  dusk  arrived  a  second  Commissar  (whom 
I  know  personally)  with  the  same  orders  as  the  other, 
and  he  assured  me  it  would  be  impossible  to  pass  the 
gunboats,  but  that  he  would  get  me  a  pass  to  do  so  and 


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W 

H 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  315 

that  he  would  send  for  his  wife  and  family  and  come  also. 
I  agreed  at  once,  and  having  passed  a  quantity  of  his 
relations  on  to  the  ship,  I  proceeded  to  the  Krilger  to 
report,  returning  with  the  instructions  that  as  soon  as 
she  lowered  her  three  lights  I  was  to  get  out  at  once,  as 
she  would  then  be  coming  out  herself. 

"  On  return  to  the  Arsenal  pier  I  found  things  very 
nasty-looking,  and  at  once  withdrew  the  picquet  and  swept 
all  those  who  were  crowding  round  the  gangway  on  to 
the  ship  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  at  the  same  time 
giving  instructions  to  cast  off  and  to  draw  out  to 
anchor. 

"  Driver  Norris  and  Private  Parsons,  by  their  courageous 
attitude  in  the  face  of  large  numbers,  were  of  the  greatest 
assistance  in  the  operations  of  clearing  the  pier  and 
gangway,  and  all  attempts  on  the  part  of  many  people 
to  leave  the  ship  and  give  notice  of  our  departure  to 
the  town  were  resisted  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet, 
and  we  left  the  pier  at  11.30  p.m. 

"  It  was  my  intention  to  anchor  close  by  and  to  await 
the  Krilger,  but  there  had  been  foul  play  with  the  cable, 
and  on  letting  go  it  snapped,  and  the  anchor  was  lost. 
Owing  to  the  necessity  of  keeping  steerage  way  in  the 
crowded  anchorage,  the  boat  was  a  long  way  out  before 
I  could  get  her  turned,  and  the  Krilger' s  three  lights  had 
been  hauled  down.  The  Kursh  passed  me,  going  in  a  direc- 
tion opposite  to  where  I  conceived  the  entrance  to  be,  and 
I  concluded  she  was  proceeding  to  a  prearranged  anchorage 
to  await  the  Krilger,  and  I  held  on  to  the  Krilger's  pier, 
where  I  found  her  and  spoke  her  and  was  then  told  she 
was  coming  out  and  that  I  should  follow  as  closely  as 
possible. 

"  In  spite  of  this  she  rapidly  left  us,  and  it  was 
evident  we  were  not  getting  steam.  However,  I  stood 
by  the  Captain  on  the  bridge  with  my  revolver  drawn  and 
repeatedly  impressed  upon  him  the  danger  of  any  under- 


316    THE  ADVENTURES  OF  DUNSTERFORCE 

hand  work  on  his  part.  So  that  when  the  Guardship 
signalled  us  to  stop  and  he  replied  that  "  he  was  turning  to 
starboard,"  I  was  successful  in  prevailing  upon  him  to  hold 
his  course  and  to  ignore  the  fire  to  which  we  were  at  this 
time  subjected.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  Mr.  Dana 
repaired  to  the  engine-room  with  his  revolver,  with 
immediate  and  marked  success  and  speed  increased. 

"  The  Guardship  now  opened  fire  with  her  small  gun, 
and  on  several  shots  striking  the  bridge  in  the  proximity 
of  the  explosives,  it  proved  too  much  for  the  Captain,  who 
deliberately  tried  to  pass  me  and  leave  his  post,  and  was 
only  retained  by  force,  from  which  time  onwards  my 
pistol  was  always  in  his  view,  and  I  called  our  four  men 
on  to  the  bridge  with  their  arms,  and  we  proceeded  on 
our  course.  The  next  incident  was  the  arrival  of  the 
spokesman  of  the  Ship's  Committee  to  announce  that 
the  crew  would  not  allow  the  ship  to  be  taken  out.  He 
was  promptly  made  prisoner  on  the  bridge,  and  we 
proceeded. 

**  I  subsequently  intimated  to  the  crew  that  I  would 
give  them  a  reward  on  arrival  at  Enzeli,  and  that  if 
they  would  not  accept  that  offer  we  would  fight  them  at 
once. 

**  As  the  spokesman  of  the  crew  was  in  my  hands  and 
would  have  been  the  first  to  take  part  in  the  proposed 
fight  from  a  very  bad  starting  position,  he  placed  the 
proposal  before  them  in  such  an  inviting  manner  that  it 
was  at  once  accepted  and  we  had  no  further  trouble." 

The  final  scene  in  this  drama  was  the  arrival  of  a 
deputation  from  the  revolutionary  sailors  of  the  Kursk, 
who  presented  a  written  petition  in  the  following  terms  : 

"  We,  the  Committee  and  the  crew  of  the  S.S.  Kursk 
have  witnessed  with  intense  admiration  the  heroic  conduct 
of  your  brave  British  soldiers  in  the  defence  of  Baku. 


THE  WITHDRAWAL  317 

We  have  seen  them  suffering  wounds  and  death  bravely 
in  defence  of  our  town,  which  our  own  people  were  too 
feeble  to  defend.  It  is  wonderful  to  us  that  these  fine 
fellows  from  that  distant  island  in  the  North  Sea  should 
have  come  all  this  way  to  the  Caspian  and  have  given 
up  their  lives  there  in  the  cause  of  honour  and  glory. 
**  We  are  so  much  impressed  by  their  bearing  and 
valour  and  by  the  whole  episode  of  the  British  endeavours 
to  save  Baku  from  the  Turks,  that  we  wish  to  be  at  once 
taken  over  as  a  body  and  granted  British  nationality.** 

A  finer  testimony  than  this  it  would  be  hard  to 
conceive,  and  a  New  Army  Brigade  that  could  evoke  a 
feeling  of  that  sort  in  the  minds  of  the  Baku  sailors  has 
indeed  something  to  be  proud  of. 

The  only  task  now  left  was  to  call  the  roll,  and  assure 
myself  that  not  a  single  man  had  been  left  behind  in  Baku. 

I  felt  certain  that  all  had  been  brought  away,  and  was 
therefore  dismayed  to  find  that  Major  Suttor  and  Sergeant 
BuUer,  of  the  Australian  Contingent,  were  missing,  and 
also  the  infantry  guard  of  one  N.C.O.  and  six  men 
posted  at  the  aerodrome.  In  neither  of  these  cases  did 
I  feel  that  the  careful  arrangements  made  by  my  Staff 
were  at  fault,  but  it  was  not  easy  entirely  to  exonerate 
oneself,  and  it  was  therefore  very  gratifying  to  hear 
shortly  of  the  safety  of  both  these  parties.  Major  Suttor 
and  Sergeant  BuUer  escaped  with  the  town  refugees  to 
Krasnovodsk,  and  the  guard  joined  up  with  Bicherakov's 
men  and  sailed  with  them  to  Petrovsk. 

Orders  were  now  received  for  the  dispersal  of  the 
Force,  and  their  place  has  since  been  taken  by  regular 
troops  from  the  14th  Division. 

So  ends  the  story  of  the  adventures  of  Dunsterforce. 


INDEX 


Abo,  S.S.,  210,  227,  253,  263,  303,  i 

304,  313  I 

Aerodromes,  142 
Aeroplane  observations,  293 
Aeroplanes,  142 
Aga  Petros,  179,   188 
Akbar,  Lieutenant,  82 
d'Albizzi,  Marquis,  291 
Aldham,  Captain,  16 
Alexandropol,  188 
Alkhavi,  Lieutenant,  169 
Alyat,  167,   186,  196 
Amazasp,  Colonel,  261 
American     Mission,     Karind,    20  ; 

Kermanshah,    21  ;     Hamadan, 

26,    55,  63,  103,  137;    Kasvin, 

141 
Amir  Afgham,  89,  90 
Amir  Afshar,   131 
Annett,  Captain,   16 
Araratiantz,  Dr.,  214 
Aras  River,  168,  220 
Aratunov,  Colonel,  257,  261 
Ardebil,  187 

Armenian,  s.s.,  307,  311,  313 
Armenian   National   Council,    115, 

214,  232,  255,  276,  277 
Armenian  soldiers,   fighting   value 

of,  236,  261 
Armenian  troops,  2,  3,  4 
Armenians,    political    complexion, 

118 
Armoured  car,  M.G.  Squadron,  295 
Armoured  cars,  156,  291 
Arsenal,  306 

Artillery,  8th  Battery,  R.F.A.,  166 
Asadabad,  23 
Asadabad  Pass,  58 
A.S.C.    (M.T.),  No.  730   Co.,    268 
Askhabad,  178 

319 


Assembling  of  mission,  9 

Assj^rians,  179 

Astara,   187,  220 

Astrakhan,  7,  8,  208,  233 

Austrian  instructors,  29 

Austrian  officers,  79 

Austrian  prisoners,    134,    140,    187 

Aveh,  26,  56 

Avetisof,  Colonel,  232 

Azerbaijan,  187 

Babookh,    "Comrade,"    169,    171, 

209 
Baghdad,  capture  of,  1,  2 
Baku,  importance  to  enemy,    140 
Baladjari,  199,  229,  264,  265,  267, 

296,  298 
Balakhani,  227 
Baratov,    General,  25,  61,  63,  70, 

71,  72,  73,  81,  206 
Barttelot,  Major  Sir  Walter,  12,  15 
Basra,  11 
Bateman-Champain,  Brig.-Gteneral, 

256 
Battine,  Colonel,  178,  260 
Beg  Surab,  Colonel,  295 
Berlin-Baghdad  railway,  1 
Bibi  Eibat,  226,  227,  229,  294 
Bicherakov,  Colonel,  C.B.,  D.S.O., 

21,  61,  79,    83,   121,  122,  143, 

155,  196  seq.,  250 
Bijar,  116,  120,  127,  130,  185 
Bikandi,  61 

Binagadi,  227,  229,  266,  267,  272 
Bisharat-es-Sultaneh,  148 
Bisitun,  22 
Black  Town,  227 

Bogratuni,  General,  232,  280,  296 
Bokhara,  1 
Bollington,  Captain,  294 


S20 


INDEX 


Bray,  Captain,  UR,  198,  276,  306 
Browne,  Major,  204,  209 
Brunskill,  Major,  16,   148 
Buinak,  31 
Buller,  Sergeant,  317 
Byron,  Brig. -General,  62,  81,  109, 
137,  141 

Campbell,  Captain,  16,  113 

Cannibalism,  124 

Caspian  fleet,  233,  234 

Caspian  Sea,  commercial  import- 
ance of,  2,  8 ;  Russian  fleet  on,  8 

Caucasus,  North,  political  com- 
plexion, 123  ;  Southern,  1,2; 
pohtical  complexion  of,  4,  123 

Centro-Caspia,  see  Dictators,  pas- 
sim, 210,  212,  216 

Chardigny,  Colonel,  83,  126,  260 

Chehapin,  "  Comrade,"  39,  42,  47, 
48,  49,  60,  64,  166,  168,  169, 
170,  186,  190,  205,  206,  200,  240 

Clarke,  Mr.,  246 

Clutterbuck,  Lieut. -Colonel,  22, 167, 
276 

Cockerell,  Captain,  148,  160,  184, 
244 

Cossacks,  first  meeting  with,  21  ; 
political  complexion,   118 

Cost  of  living,  144 

Counter-proclamations,  66 

Craig,  Lieutenant,  266 

Crawford,  Colonel,  225,  246 

Currency,  241 

Daghestan,    political    complexion, 

118 
Dana,  Mr.,  260,  316 
Darnagul  salt  lake,  295 
Daylight  saving,  176 
Dayrell,  Major,  272,  295 
Derbend,  250,  261,  252 
Derbyshire,  Captain,  157 
Dictators,  see  Centro-Caspia,  passim 
Dictators,  231,  233,  234,  252,  255, 

273.  277,  279,  293,  296,  304 
Diga,  266,  272 
Donnan,  Colonel,  177 
Donohoe,  Captain,  81 
Dukuchaiev,    General,    282,     276, 

282,  296,  299 


Duncan,  Lieut. -Colonel,  A.Q.M.G  , 

16,  24,  106,  229,  244 
Dunning,  Captain,  A.D.C.,   16,  87 
Dunsterforce,  official  name,  65 
Durnford,  Captain,  164 

Elburz  Range,  8,  27,  134,  220 
Engledue,   Major,    128,    129,    273, 

296 
EnzeH,  7  ;  held  by  Bolsheviks,  14, 

15,  28 
Evacuation  of  Russian  troops,  31, 

32,  70,  75,  85 
Evacuation  of  sick,  303,  304 
Eve,  Captain,  81 

Famine,  signs  of,  20,  62 ;  causes  of, 

102 
Famine  relief,  80,  104  seq.  ;  apathy 

of    notables,    107  ;    success  of, 

108,  113 
Faviell,    Lieut. -Colonel,    182,    230, 

296,  300 
Feodorov,    Alexander    Ivanovitch, 

311 
Ferid-ud-Dowleh,  97,  177,  184 
Firman-Firma,   135 
Fleet,  Caspian,  233,  234 
Fleet,  Russian,  on  Caspian  Sea,  8 
Foxlee,  Captain,  293 
French  officers,  83 
Funk,  Mrs.,  137 

Garmakov,  "  Comrade,"  280 

Geldakh,  168,   196 

Georgian  troops,  3,  4 

Georgians,  political  complexion, 
118 

Georgiev,  Lieutenant,  23 

Gorman  agents,  67,  69,  60,  66,  122, 
125 

Gilanis,  hostihty  of,    13,    14 

Gloucestershire  Regiment,  7th  Ser- 
vice Battahon,   182 

Goldsmith,  Captain  G.,  12,  15,  26, 
47,  61,   126 

Goodwin,  Mr.,  26,  53 

Grigorievitch,  Mr.,  36 

Guhstan  of  Sa'adi,  91 

Gurkhas,  l/2nd,  166,  166,  171,  201 

Gurland,  Captain,  221 


INDEX 


821 


Hamadan,  13,  16,  24  ;  ancient 
Ecbatana,  situation,  65  ;  com- 
mercial importance,  57  ;  poli- 
tical complexion,  60  ;  change 
of  feeling,  65 

Hampshire  Regt.,  l/4th,  17,  18, 
82,  119,  166,  164,  166,  202, 
208 

Harris,  Sergeant,  58 

Harunabad,  17,  20 

Haslam,  Major,  178,  261 

Havelock,  Major  Beresford,  305 

Hay,  Major,   116,  133 

Henderson,  Captain,  128 

Hooper,  Captain,  16,  114,  115, 
135 

Hoskyn,  Lieut. -Colonel  J.,  148, 
229,  311 

Hdtel  d'Europe,  228,  257,  258,  259, 
279 

H6tel  Metropole,  228,  258 

Hunin,  M.,  37 

Hugh-Hush  Army,  66 

Hussars,  14th,  113,  116,  156,  157, 
163 

Ignati,  s.s.,  234 
Ihtidar-ul-Mulk,  147 
Imamzadeh,  Hashim,  35,  164,  171 
Imperial  Bank  of  Persia,  Hamadan, 

25,  103,   178;    Kasvin,  26,  78; 

Kermanshah,    21  ;     Resht,    36, 

78 
Infantry  Brigade,  39th,   182,  200, 

214,  216,  296 
Intercepted  correspondence,  99 
Irregulars,     Persian,     79,     127; 

Kurdish,   127 ;    native,   189 

Jackson,  Captain,  16,  314 

Jangali  movement,  27, 28,  59 ;  oppo- 
sition, 67;  attack  on  Resht, 
201 

JangaHs,  76,  121,  137 

Jilus,  125,  179,  180 

John,  Captain,  16,  105 

Julfa,  68 

Kangavar,  23 
Kar-guzar,  62,  89,  147 
Karind,  20 


Kasma,  165,  171 

Kasvin,  133  ;   description  of,  142 

Kasvin,  importance  of,  26 ;  un- 
friendly attitude  of,  27,  62 ; 
intended  attack  by  Jangalis, 
76,  78 

Kazarov,  Colonel,  266,  295 

Kazian,   28 ;     arrival   at,    36 

Kazian  Soviet,  39  ;  meeting  with, 
42 

Kennion,  Colonel,   22,    124 

Kennion,  Mrs.,  22 

Kermanshah,  15,  21,  195;  Ameri- 
can Mission,  21  ;  Russian  wire- 
less station,  22 

Keyworth,  Colonel,  138,  209,  222, 
"228,  230,  256,  296,  299 

Khanikin,   13,    16,   196 

Khoja  Hasan,  296 

Kifri,  125 

Kirkuk,  125 

Krasnovodsk,  178,  179,  187,  251, 
260 

Kuchik  Khan,  14,  251 ;  hostiUty  of, 
27,  28 ;  parleys  with,  166  ; 
sues  for  peace,   204 

Kuflan  Kuh,  257 

Kuhn,  Mr.,  178,  179 

Kura  River,  168,  196 

Kurds,  hostility  of,  13 ;  road 
guards,  19 

Kursk,  S.S.,  210,  218,  227,  239, 
253,  263,  303,  304,  313 

Kuzmin,  Colonel,  179 

Lake  Urumiah,  117,  126 
Landing  grounds,  142 
Lastochkin,  General,  61 
Lazarev,  "Comrade,"  168,  209 
Lemlin,  "  Dictator,"  233,  308 
Lenkoran,  221,  226,  232,  261,  260, 

292 
Levies,  Persian,  79,  116;  Kurdish, 

124;     Persian,    124,    126,    189, 

195 
Lewin,  Brig. -General,  279 
Lewis  gun,  16 
Ley,     Major,     D.S.O.,     266,     296, 

299 
Locker-Lampson's  armoured   cars 

167 


22 


322 


INDEX 


Macarthy,  Major,  129,  196 
Macbeth,  Lieutenant,  267 
MacDonnell,  Mr.,  115 
Mahi-Dasht,  21 

Malleson,  General,  178,  179,  260 
Marling,  Sir  Charles,  26,   181 
Masazir  salt  lake,  229 
Matthews,  Lieut. -Colonel,  165,  166, 

201,  203 
McCleverty,  Captain,  203 
McDonnell,  Major,  280 
McDowell,  Mr.,  25,  86 
McLaren,  Mr.,  36,  137,  167,  172  ; 

a  prisoner,  78 
McMurray,    Mr.,  25,    72,   93,    113, 

178 
Medem,  Colonel  Baron,  71 
Menjil,  7,  31,  33,  61  ;    fortified    by 

Jangalis,    78;    Battle    of,    158 

seq. 
Merv,  178 
Meshed,  178,  260 
Mianeh-Zinjan     road    threatened, 

116 
Mianeh,  186,  188 
Midhat-es-Sultaneh,  147 
Moir,  Mr.,  97,  172,  203 
Mosul,  188 
Mud  Volcano,  229,  256,  261,  264, 

265,  266,  268 
Mughan  Steppe,  220,  260 

Nagober,  35 

Narghin  island,  226 

Naval  ratings,  211 

Newcome,  Major,  167,  240,  258 

Nizam-es-Sultan,  86,  87,  89 

Noel,  Captain,  78,  137,  156,  157, 
201,  220,  255,  256,  260 

Novkhany,  266 

Norris,  Commodore,  212,  233,  261, 
303,  309,  311 

Norris,  Driver,  R.F.A.,  315 

North  Staffordshire  Regiment,  7th 
Service  Battahon,  182,  222, 
223,  229,  230,  231,  255,  266  seq., 
294,  295,  296,  298,  305 

Oakshot,  Mr.,  36,  78,  137,  167 
Offley-Shore,  General,  26 
Osborne,  Captain,  183 


Pai-Taq,  17 
"Partisans,"  21,  22 
Pennington,  Lieutenant,   188 
Petrol,  supply  of,  49,  03,   170 
Petrov,  "  Comrade,"  207,  223,  224, 

225,  226,  244,  245,  254 
Pike,  Colonel,  26,  47,  61,  126,  261 
Pike,  Private,  A.S.C.,  37 
Poidebard,  Lieutenant,  83 
Pope,  Captain,  113,  157,  163 
Parsons,  Private,  315 
President     KriXger,    s.s.,    210,    226, 

227,   232,   252,    253,   263,     297, 

303,  307 
Proclamations,  64 
Profiteering,  249 
Pulverman,  Major,  293 

Qasr-i-Shirin,  196 

Rais-i-Telefon,  145,  146,  148,  160, 

161,  162 
Rawlinson,  Lieut. -Colonel,  R.F.A,, 

179,  254,  260,  292,  306 
Red  Guards,  64 
Resht,  capital  of    Gilan,  28,   164; 

political    complexion,    184; 

Battle  of,  201  seq. 
R.F.A. ,  8th  Battery,  266 
Road  Company,  207 
Road-guards,  Kurdish,  124 
Rouble  notes,  241 
Routledge,  Sergeant,  16 
Rowlandson,  Major,   25,    167,   260 
Royal  Navy,  211  ^ 

Royal    Warwickshire    Regt.,     9th 

Service  Battahon,  182,  230,  265, 

267,  272,  295,  298,  300 
Rule  of  the  road,  176 
Russian  battle-line,  2,  6,  6 
Russian  fleet  on  Caspian  Sea,  8 
Russian  officers  in  Turkish  army, 

168 
Russian  officers  with  mission,    10 
Russo-British  Volunteer  Corps,  71 
Ruz,  Dunstertorce  camp  at,  65 

Saad-es-Sultaneh,  62,  87,  HI 
Sadovsky,  "Dictator,"  233,  308 
Sahneh  Pass,  23 
Sain  Kaleh,  189 


INDEX 


323 


Sakiz,  130 

Salt  lake,  Masazir,  229 
Sauj-Bulaq,  117,  180,   189 
Saunders,  Captain,  G.S.O.,  16,  42, 

43,  45,  48,  60,  87,  93,  97,    117, 

147,  151,  244 
Searight,  Captain,  204,  244 
Sefid  Rud,  33 
Shabli  Pass,  182,  188 
Shahsavens,  131,  189 
Shaumian,   Bolshevik  leader,  115; 

"  Comrade,"  207,  226,  244,  245, 

254 
Sheverin,  01,  75 
Singer,  Lieutenant,   15,  27,  35 
Sinjabis,   125 

Sinneh,  Turkish  Consul  at,  98,  120, 
.      131 

Sipah-Salar,  133,  135 
Snowstorms,  13,  18,  24,  52,  67 
Sovlaief,  Lieutenant,  143,  145,  146, 

148 
Sparrow,  Captain,  265 
Stames,  Major,  116,  127,  130,  131, 

179,   189 
Stepanov,  Captain,  221 
Stokes,    Lieut. -Colonel,    122,    126, 

156,  157,  208,  232,  276,  296 
Stork,  Captain,  16 
Sultanabad,  116 
Sultan  Bulaq  Pass,  26,  31,  66,  82, 

135 
Supplies,  61,  62,  76,  94,  114 
Surakhani,  295 
Surkh-a-Disa,  18,  19,  20 
Suttor,  Major,  317 


Tabriz,  58,   117;  attack  on,  126 
Taq-i-Giri  Pass,  7,  17 
Teheran,  visit  to,   117,   133j 
Tiflis,   2,   3  ;    political  complexioi> 

of,  4 
Topham,  Captain,  117 
Trebizond,  232 

Urumiah,  179,  180 

llsheg,  S.S.,  252 

Vandenberg,  Major,  254 
Ventur,  s.s.,  234 
von  der  Floss,  General,  232 
von  Passchen,  29,   160,   161,   162, 
201,  202,  203 

Wagstaff,  Major,  117,  127,  131,^189 
Warden,  Lieut. -Colonel,   148,^223, 

253 
Watson,  Sergeant,  16,  68 
Wheat,  prices  of,  124,  144 
White  House,  295 
White  Town,  227 
Whitmarsh,  Major,  178,  243 
Wolfs  Gap,  231,  294,  295,  300 
Worcestershire  Regt.,   9th  Service 

Battalion,    182,   230,   265,   266^ 

298,  300 

Yarmakov,  "Dictator,"  233 

Zageh,  24 
Zemski  Soyuz,  74 
Zinjan,  117,  127,  131,  185 
Zypalov,  Lieutenant,  24 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by 

TJNWIN  BROTHEB8,  LIMrTBD 
WOKING  AND  LONDON 


Telegrams  :  "Scholarly,  London."  41  and  43  Maddox  Street, 

Telephone  :   1883  Mayfair.  Bond  Street,  London,  W.  i. 

March  J  1920. 

Mr.   Edward  Arnold's 
SPRING 

ANNOUNCEMENTS,  1920. 

THE  MARCH  ON  PARIS  AND  THE 
BATTLE  OF  THE  MARNE,   1914. 

By  ALEXANDER  VON  KLUCK,  Generaloberst. 

With  Portrait  and  Maps,  and  Notes  by  the  Historical  Section  (Military 
Branch)  of  the  Committee  of  Imperial  Defence.  Demy  Svo.    los.  6d.  net. 

In  this  book  General  Von  Kluck  gives  us  the  history  of  the 
First  Army  from  August  2nd  to  September  i6th,  1914,  at  which 
date  the  "  war  of  movement  "  came  to  an  end  and  the  long  period 
of  trench -warfare  set  in.  The  First  Army — which  he  commanded 
— was  on  the  extreme  right  wing  of  the  German  hosts,  and  thus 
it  was  Von  Kluck  who  came  into  collision  with  the  British 
Expeditionary  Force  at  the  battles  of  Mons  and  Le  Cateau. 
His  story  throws  a  considerable  amount  of  new  light  on  those 
memorable  encounters  which  we  are  now  for  the  first  time  able 
to  examine  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  German  higher 
command,  but  the  climax  of  interest  is  reached  when  we  come 
to  the  fateful  days  at  the  beginning  of  September  which  ended  in 
the  Battle  of  the  Marne.  Von  Kluck's  verdict  on  the  September 
fighting  is  that  most  of  the  tactical  successes  were  obtained  by 
the  Germans,  but  that  the  strategic  victory  remained  with  the 
Allies.  How  that  momentous  result  was  brought  about  is  a 
question  which,  like  the  problem  of  the  Waterloo  campaign,  bids 
fair  to  be  discussed  for  generations  to  come.  Von  Kluck's  views 
on  the  matter  (and  no  one  was  nearer  to  the  heart  of  it  than  he)  are 
perfectly  clear,  vigorously  expressed,  and  evidently  most  pertin- 
aciously held.  His  narrative  can  never  cease  to  be  one  of  the 
indispensable  sources  for  the  history  of  those  tremendous  days 
in  which  the  fate  of  European  civilization  was  decided. 

The  volume  is  accompanied  by  a  large  and  elaborate  map  in 
four  colours,  giving  in  detail  the  routes  of  the  units  of  the  First 
German  Army  in  the  advance  to  the  Grand  Morin  and  retreat  to 
the  Aisne. 


2  Mr.  Edward  A  mold's  Spring  A  nnouncements. 

A    BRIGADE    OF    THE    OLD 
ARMY,   1914. 

By  Lieut.-General  Sir  AYLMER  HALDANE, 
K.C.B.,  D.S.O., 

Author  of  "How  we  Escaped  i-ko.m  Pretoria." 

With  Maps.     Demy  Svo.     los.  6d.  net. 

General  Haldane,  who  has  just  been  given  the  highly  import- 
ant command  in  Mesopotamia,  was  in  command  of  the  i6th 
Infantry  Brigade  at  Shorncliffe  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the 
Great  War.  This  brigade  formed  part  of  the  4th  Division  and 
left  for  France  to  join  the  rest  of  the  Expeditionary  Force  on  the 
22nd  of  August,  proceeding  on  landing  to  Le  Cateau,  where  the 
Division  formed  the  extreme  left  of  the  allied  armies  in  that 
engagement.  From  thence,  during  the  famous  retreat  and 
advance  to  the  Aisne,  its  movements  were  bound  up  with  those  of 
the  rest  of  the  force.  On  October  7th  the  loth  Brigade  left  the 
Aisne  and  moved  to  St.  Omer,  and  was  soon  involved  in  the 
violent  fighting  along  the  River  Lys  which  continued  until 
General  Haldane  left  to  take  over  command  of  the  3rd  Division. 

Originally  intended  for  the  officers  and  men  of  his  brigade, 
this  record  of  the  first  phase  of  the  War  by  their  commander  has 
been  considered  likely  to  interest  that  wide  public  which  cannot 
read  too  much  about  those  memorable  first  months.  Many 
books  have  been  and  will  yet  be  written  on  the  great  retreat,  but 
few  are  likely  to  appear  with  the  cachet  of  a  more  distinguished 
career  in  the  War  than  that  of  Sir  Aylmer  Haldane. 

NOTES    ON   SPORTING    RIFLES 

(FOR   USE  IN    INDIA   AND   ELSEWHERE). 

By  Major  GERALD  BURRARD,  D.S.O., 

Late  Royal  Field  Artillery. 

Crown  8w.     Cloth  4s.  6d.  net. 

Originally  intended  for  the  novice  in  Indian  sport,  the  greater 
part  of  these  notes  will  hold  good  for  big  game  shooting  in  other 
countries.  It  is  more  than  fifty  years  since  Forsyth's  "  The 
Sporting  Rifle  and  its  Projectiles "  was  published,  and  in  the 
interval  no  book  dealing  solely  with  rifles  has  appeared — and, 
moreover,  a  great  change  in  the  manufacture  of  sporting  rifles 
has  taken  place  during  the  last  ten  years.  It  is  therefore  hoped 
that  this  compact  little  volume  will  be  a  help  to  the  numerous 
young  men  who  are  going  to  India  and  elsewhere  in  the  army 
and  public  services. 


Mr.  Edward  Arnold's  Spring  Announcements.  3 

THE  ADVENTURES  OF 
DUNSTERFORCE. 

By  Major-General  L.  C.  DUNSTERVILLE,  C.B. 
With  Illustrations  and  Maps.     Demy  Svo.     18s.  net. 

Who  is  not  familiar  with  Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling's  figure  of 
Stalky,  the  schoolboy  '*  wily  Odysseus  "  ?  Stalky  has  grown  up, 
and  is  now  Major-General  Dunsterville,  the  author  of  this  work. 

To-day,  eighteen  months  after  the  events  described  herein,  the 
eyes  of  Europe  are  again  focussed  on  the  stage  where  Stalky  and 
his  command  played  their  part.  To  any  student  of  political 
movement,  the  first  contact  of  the  British  soldier  with  Bolshe- 
vism and  Pan- Islam  must  needs  be  of  interest,  and  the  more  so 
when  presented  by  an  observer  blessed  with  an  unfailing  sense  of 
humour  and  a  courage  undaunted  by  the  appalling  complexity  of 
the  task  allotted  to  him. 

Towards  the  end  of  191 7,  under  the  seal  of  absolute  secrecy, 
a  plan  was  hatched  in  London  to  fill  the  gap  left  by  the  defection 
of  Russia  for  the  infiltration  of  enemy  propaganda  into  Asia  via 
the  Caucasus  and  Persia.  Hence  the  ''  Hush  Hush  Army,"  a 
body  of  officers  and  N.C.Os.  each  fastidiously  handpicked  from 
every  front,  France,  Salonika,  Palestine,  Mesopotamia — repre- 
senting every  part  of  the  British  Empire — in  fact,  a  microcosm 
of  Anglo-Saxondom  in  arms. 

It  was  a  very  highly  picked  force  that  the  author  was  ordered 
to  lead  in  a  desperate  attempt  to  deal  with  the  newly-arisen 
situation.  It  was  originally  intended  to  organize,  with  Tiflis  as 
centre,  the  Christian  populations  of  the  Caucasus  against  the  then 
unopposed  Turkish  arms.  It  was  physically  impossible  for  either 
London  or  Baghdad  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  kaleidoscopic 
changes  of  the  situation,  which  compelled  complete  modification 
of  the  original  plan.  This  book  sets  out  the  way  in  which  was 
achieved  that  success,  whose  measure  can  be  gauged  by  the 
amazement  with  which  the  world  heard  during  the  last  fortnight 
of  August,  19 1 8,  that  a  British  force  had  occupied  Baku. 

To  General  Dunsterville's  courage  and  foresight  is  largely  due 
our  present  position  in  Persia.  Treachery,  bad  roads,  famine, 
intrigue,  armed  opposition  by  those  whom  he  had  set  out  to  help, 
were  successfully  overcome.  The  whole  story  is  a  tribute  of  the 
highest  order  to  the  amazing  versatility  of  the  race.  Englishmen, 
Australians,  South  Africans,  Canadians,  New  Zealanders,  and  a 
handful  of  faithful  Russians,  pioneered  the  road  for  the  Gurkhas 
and  the  immortal  39th  Infantry  Brigade,  whose  feats  of  arms 
alone  would  have  more  than  justified  the  writing  of  this  volume. 

Mr.  Kipling's  estimate  of  Stalky,  the  boy,  is  amply  realized  in 
the  story,  as  told  by  himself,  of  Stalky  the  man. 


4  Mr.  Edward  Arnold's  Spring  Annowtcements, 

OUR  KID,  AND  OTHER  LONDON 
AND  LANCASHIRE  SKETCHES. 

By  the  Rev.  Canon  PETER  GREEN, 

Author  of  "  How  to  deal  with  Lads,"  etc. 

Crown  8vo.     Paper  2s.  6d.  net ;  cloth  ^s.  6d.  net. 

The  sketches  of  which  this  book  is  made  up,  and  which  attracted 
a  great  deal  of  attention  when  they  were  appearing  in  the  Man- 
chester Guardian,  fall  into  three  divisions.  The  first  are  character 
sketches  of  Lancashire  boys  of  various  ages  from  Our  Kid,  who 
is  still  at  school,  to  Johnny,  the  hero  of  the  sketch  "  Johnny  on 
Mules,"  who  is  in  the  army.  All  who  know  the  author's  books 
on  Lads'  Clubs  and  the  training  of  boys  will  read  them  with  interest. 
The  second  and  largest  section  of  the  sketches  deals  with  life  in 
the  poorer  parts  of  London  and  will  appeal  to  all  Londoners,  for 
they  are  filled  with  the  love  of  a  true  Cockney  for  "  that  fair  city 
London."  And  old  public  school  boys,  with  pleasant  memories 
of  the  school  or  college  mission  they  support,  will  read  them  with 
interest.  The  last  section,  which  includes  such  sketches  as  "  On 
being  a  Lancashire  Man,"  and  "On  being  a  Yorkshire  Man"  and 
"  Black  Magic,"  are  humorous  essays  of  general  appeal. 

A   SOUL'S    PROGRESS. 

By  P.  W.  ROBERTSON,  M.A.,  Ph.D. 
Demy  8vo.     8s.  6d.  net. 

This  is  a  book  of  five  studies  in  temperament  when  played  upon 
and  modulated  by  the  influence  of  some  gracious  and  coloured 
environment.  ^' He  felt  the  genius  of  places;  and  I  sometimes  think  he 
resembles  the  places  he  knew  and  liked  best,  and  where  his  lot  fell."  Dr. 
Robertson  might  almost  have  taken  that  sentence  from  Walter 
Pater  as  the  motif  of  his  book.  The  hunter  and  the  haunter  of 
cities  will  certainly  care  to  possess  and  to  return  to  this  volume, 
as  will  many  readers  who,  in  an  age  of  emphasis,  still  desire  to 
build  out  of  their  own  experience  an  inner  spiritual  city  of  the 
nuances  and  refinements  of  memory. 

Dr.  Robertson  has  travelled  far  for  his  five  types  :  to  Alexandria 
in  the  reign  of  Cleopatra,  China  in  the  eighth  century,  Parma  in  the 
time  of  Correggio,  Danzig  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  Burma 
a  few  years  ago.  In  a  brief  introduction  he  gives  the  clue  to  the 
understanding  of  the  spiritual  unity  of  his  book.  It  is  a  book, 
also,  that  shows  a  finely-wrought  style  of  much  beauty  and  sugges- 
tiveness,  the  portraits  being  clothed  in  a  verbal  raiment  which 
interprets  very  exactly  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  conceived. 


Mr.  Edward  Arnold'' s  Spring  Announcements,  5 

THE    PROMETHEUS    BOUND    OF 
AESCHYLUS. 

Represented  in  English  and  explained  by  E.  G.  HARMAN. 

Demy  Svo.     los.  6d.  net. 

In  this  volume  the  author  puts  forward  an  ingenious  and 
entirely  novel  interpretation  of  Aeschylus'  famous  drama,  the 
essential  feature  of  which  is  that  he  explains  it  as  a  daring  piece 
of  concealed  political  writing,  the  key  to  which  is  to  be  found  in 
the  party-strife  which  was  raging  in  Athens  at  the  time.  A 
similar  theme  is  handled  in  the  book  mentioned  immediately 
below,  and  the  argument  in  each  case  is  in  very  close  relation  to 
that  of  the  other.  The  Essay  is  followed  by  an  original  transla- 
tion of  the  "  Prometheus  Bound,"  and  the  Greek  text  has  been 
printed  opposite  the  English  version  for  the  purpose  of  convenient 
reference. 

THE    BIRDS    OF    ARISTOPHANES 

CONSIDERED  IN  RELATION 
TO     ATHENIAN      POLITICS. 

By  the  SAME  AUTHOR. 

Demy  Svo.     los.  6d.  net. 

Mr.  Harman  here  works  out  a  theory  with  regard  to  "  The 
Birds  "  closely  analogous  to  the  one  propounded  in  the  book  just 
mentioned  with  regard  to  "  Prometheus  Bound,"  namely,  that  the 
real  clue  to  its  drift  is  to  be  found  by  regarding  it  as  a  veiled 
criticism  on  contemporary  events.  In  the  present  volume  he 
develops  his  view  at  considerably  greater  length,  and,  in  a  retro- 
spect extending  over  about  a  century,  establishes  the  historical 
points  on  which  his  argument  is  based.  He  then  takes  us  through 
the  play,  and  in  a  concluding  chapter  shows  that  this  view  of 
it  throws  an  illuminating  light  on  the  politics  of  the  day. 

POEMS. 

By  E.  G.  HARMAN.     Crown  Svo.     6s.  net. 

COOKERY    FOR    DYSPEPTICS. 

By  the  late  Dr.  G.  HERSCHELL. 

Revised  and  Rewritten  by  ADOLPHE  ABRAHAMS, 
O.B.E.,  M.D.  Camb.,  M.R.C.P.  Lond. 

Demy  Svo.     2S.  6d.  net. 


6  Mr.  Edward  Arnold's  Spring  Announcements, 

TECHNIQUE    AND     INTERPRETA- 
TION   IN  VIOLIN    PLAYING. 

By  ROWSBY  WOOF,  F.R.A.M., 

Profbssor  of  the  Violin  at  the  RovAt  Academy  of  Music. 

Crown  Svo. 
In  this  volume  Professor  Woof  has  embodied  some  suggestions 
and  directions  on  both  the  technical  and  the  interpretative  aspect 
of  violin  playing  which  he  has  already  applied  with  gratifying 
success  in  the  course  of  his  professional  career.  It  is  intended 
for  amateur  as  well  as  professional  violinists. 

RECENTLY     PUBLISHED. 

GARDENS  :    THEIR    FORM 
AND    DESIGN. 

By  the  Viscountess  WOLSELEY. 

Illustrated  by  Miss  M.  G.  CAMPION. 

Svo,     2IS.  net. 

"  Lady  Wolseley's  handsome  volume,  with  its  beautiful  illustrations  and 
spacious  pages,  is  a  stately  treatise  in  the  grand  manner.  But  it  is  as  an 
artist  concerned  in  the  principles  of  form  and  design  that  her  book  should  be 
welcomed  by  all  to  whom  fair  surroundings  are  not  merely  a  convenience, 
but  a  necessity  of  the  spirit." — Nation. 

MEMORIES  OF  THE  MONTHS. 

SIXTH     SERIES. 

By  the  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  HERBERT  MAXWELL,  Bt.,  F.R.S. 
With  Plates.     Large  Crown  Svo.     los.  6d.  net. 

"  •  Memories  of  the  Month  '  please  us  all  largely  because  they  record, 
without  the  fuss  and  formality  often  thought  necessary  for  Your  Authorship, 
the  natural  daily  pleasures  of  the  writer.  And,  himself  gardener,  fisherman, 
naturalist,  traveller,  and  historian,  he  has  an  eclectic  mind  charmingly 
adapted  for  the  work  of  pottering  in  the  wide  field  of  his  own  experience. ' ' 
— Observer. 

MODERN  ROADS. 

By  H.  P.  BOULNOIS,  M.InstC.E.,  etc., 
Chairman  of  the  Council  of  the  Roads  Improvement  Association. 

Illustrated.     Demy  Svo.     i6s.  net. 

"The  information  given  is  not  only  up  to-date  and  reliable,  but  all  the 
modern  methods  of  road -making  are  fully  described  and  critically  discussed 
in  a  way  that  only  an  engineer  of  the  experience  and  standing  of  the  author 
could  be  expected  to  do." — The  Surveyor. 


Mr.  Edward  Arnold's  Spring  Announcements.  7 

A  MEDLEY  OF  MEMORIES. 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Sir  DAVID  HUNTER-BLAIR,  Bart. 
Illustrated.     Second  Impression.     i6s.  net. 

"  Not  a  few  men  of  the  world  who  have  become  for  a  time  guests  of  the 
cloister  have  observed  with  surprise  that  Benedictines  seem  to  know  a  good 
deal  more  about  the  world  than  those  who  are  of  it ;  if  any  of  them  read  this 
dehghtful  volume  they  will  be  confirmed  in  their  impression." — Church  Times. 

"A  book  which  reminds  one  of  those  delightful  chronicles  of  the  late 
Mr.  G.  W.  E.  Russell.  The  cloister  did  not  separate  Sir  David  from  the 
hearth,  and  he  tells  us  even  more  about  the  social  than  the  religious  life  of 
his  times  in  this  most  entertaining  and  genial  book." — Daily  News. 

JOHN    REDMOND'S    LAST    YEARS. 

By  STEPHEN  GWYNN. 
With  Portrait.     One  Vol.     i6s.  net. 

' '  A  full-length  portrait  of  one  of  the  greatest  figures  of  our  time.  It  is  a 
deeply  interesting  historical  document  because  it  deals  with  Irish  political 
events  at  their  most  thrilling  period." — Daily  News. 

"  This  work  is  one  which  every  student  of  modern  politics  should  read,  and 
read  at  once.  There  has  been  no  more  important  publication  on  the  Irish 
question  during  recent  years." — The  Times. 

A    CHILDHOOD    IN    BRITTANY 
EIGHTY   YEARS    AGO. 

By   ANNE    DOUGLAS    SEDGWICK 

(Mrs.    Basil    de    Selincoukt),    Author    of  "Tante,"    and  other  novels. 

Illustrated.     Svo.     los.  6d.  net. 

"The  memories  told  to  Miss  Sedgwick  during  many  talks  with  her  old 
French  friend  have  been  most  charmingly  put  together  and  translated  by  her, 
and  the  atmosphere  and  spirit  of  the  age  have  been  most  faithfully  preserved. 
The  customs,  the  habits,  the  dress,  and  even  the  food  are  described  so 
minutely  and  with  such  telling  effect  that  the  most  vivid  pictures  rise  before 
one's  eyes." — Country  Life. 

A  THIN    GHOST   AND   OTHERS. 

By    Dr.    M.    R.   JAMES, 

Provost  of  Eton  College. 

Author  of  "Ghost  Stories  of  an  Antiquary." 

Thivd  Impression.     Crown  Svo.     4s.  6d.  net. 

"  Not  only  are  the  studies  written  with  a  distinction  of  style  to  which  the 
reader  of  similar  works  is  totally  unaccustomed,  but  the  Provost  of  Eton  has 
managed  to  impart  a  most  authentic  feeling  of  alarming  eeriness  to  the  appari- 
tions he  so  vividly  describes."— S/'^c^a^of. 


8  Mr,  Edward  Arnold's  Spring  Announcements, 

MONS,  ANZAC,  AND  KUT. 

By  LiEUT.-CoL.  the  Hon.  AUBREY  HERBERT,  M.P. 
With  Maps.     Demy  Svo,     14s.  net. 

"The  entire  book  is  full  of  character,  and  will  be  read  with  absorbed 
interest  by  all  who  took  part  in  the  experiences  so  clearly  and  definitely 
recorded.  Military  historians  of  every  grade  will  have  to  consult  this  volume 
if  their  record  is  to  sustain  a  claim  to  exhaustive  information." — Daily  Telegraph. 

WITH  THE  PERSIAN  EXPEDITION. 

By  Major  M.  H.  DONOHOE, 

Armv  Intelligence  Corps. 
Special  Correspondent  of  the  "  Daily  Chronicle." 

With  Illustrations  and  Map.      i6s.  net. 

"  Major  Donohoe  cannot  be  too  heartily  congratulated  on  the  production  of 
a  book  which  cannot  fail  to  add  greatly  to  his  already  established  reputation." 
— United  Service  Magazine. 

"Full  of  amusing  anecdotes,  and  reads  like  a  novel." — Truth. 

LONDON  MEN  IN  PALESTINE. 

By  ROWLANDS  COLDICOTT. 
With  Illustrations  and  Maps.     Demy  Svo.     12s,  6d.  net. 

' '  No  one  who  wishes  to  get  an  idea  of  what  the  fighting  on  the  way  to 
Jerusalem  was  really  like  can  afford  to  neglect  'London  Men  in  Palestine.' 
In  very  few  war  books  does  the  reader  seem  to  himself  to  get  so  absolutely 
behind  the  scenes. ' ' — Evening  Standard. 

CAUGHT    BY    THE    TURKS. 

By   FRANCIS  YEATS-BROWN. 
Demy  Svo.     12s.  6d.  net. 

"  For  sheer  adventure,  intrigue,  romance  and  breathless  exploit,  it  reads 
with  all  the  dramatic  power  more  usually  looked  for  in  tales  of  colourful 
c/   imagination. — Glasgow  Herald. 

"A  wonderful  account,  admirably  written." — Truth. 

THE    STRUGGLE    IN   THE    AIR. 

By  Major  C.  C.  TURNER  (late  R.A.F.). 
With  Illustrations.     15s.  net. 

"  Major  Turner  writes  on  a  fascinating  theme,  and  by  the  rationed  fireside 
this  winter  his  book  will  make  many  a  flying  officer  reminiscent,  grip  many  a 
schoolboy  and  keep  him  wondering,  and  cause  us  all  to  settle  into  our  chairs 
the  more  comfortably  that  the  menace  from  overhead  is  no  longer  there." 
— The  Times.  _^ 

LONDON  :  EDWARD  ARNOLD,  41  &  43  MADDOX  STREET,  W.  i. 


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